How did this Occur?
by Phoenixofdarkness62
Summary: They didn't know how; their memories of how it happened are gone. Suddenly Amestris's military gets hold of this news and is out to see what they are. Are the wolves were they belong? Will the goverment help them? Are they new chimeras?
1. Chapter 1

This story is deadicated (And created for) to the amazingly awesome **rockingphillip**. She started to write a AxelRoxas story for me, so I thought I'd do a crossover of her favorite animes for her. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

Kiba awoke seemingly alone. 'Ugh…" he said holding his head with his human hand. He looked around. It was desolate, dry, and not at all like what he knew. His eyes narrowed.

"Cheza? Toboe? Tsume? Blue? Hige?" he asked slightly panicked.

"We're all here Kiba." Hige said appearing. "Relax." His hands were in his pockets and everyone came out from behind him. His face relaxed just a little bit. They were all here at least. Hastily Tsume guarded Cheza and Blue from one side and Toboe from another.

"Alright, just checking." Kiba replied. They all seemed to be observing the landscape as well. Where were they?

"You guys from Xing?" a dark skinned man asked from his mule and cart. He spotted Blue.

"Sister of Ishbal!" he said taking her hand. The group looked at each other, and grinned ever so slightly.

"Brother." Blue replied demurely.

* * *

They ended up following the man to a small slum filled with a people called Ishbalans. Cheza gripped Kiba's forearm tightly as they navigated the narrow streets.

"This one feels that we are not where we should be." She said. Several men as she passed by looked at her with odd smiles. Her pink hair really stood out in a sea of whites, browns, and black. Once glance from Tsume though and they were put in their place.

"Tsume where are we anyway?" Toboe asked.

"How the hell should I know? One minute I was pretty sure we were both dead, and then we end up in the middle of no where." Tsume growled.

"Well you're not in the middle of no where anymore. You're in the country of Amestris now." The man who found them, Markis replied. He came to a stop in front of a small ramshackle apartment smaller then some caves the wolves had stayed in from time to time.

"It's not much, but you're welcome to stay here as long as it takes you to sort everything out." He said. His wife, Maria, they had been told came out to greet them with a girl clinging to her skirts and a boy in her arms. She hugged her husband and looked at the group with kind eyes.

"Honey that was so kind of you!" she said giving him the boy, and the girl glued herself to his leg. Maria bowed to the wolf pack.

"We don't have much, but we can offer you a little nook to call home for awhile." She said from her bow.

"Thank you, for everything you're offering us." Blue replied. Hige nodded in agreement.

"We'll be staying mostly in your yard though." Hige replied taking Blue's hand lightly. She blushed ever so slightly. Maria looked alarmed.

"You'll freeze to death!" she exclaimed. Tsume smirked. "You'd be surprised at our survival skills."

Our wolves then set to work on assisting the family. Blue stayed inside and help Maria with dinner. Cheza stayed inside as well and in her own way, entertained the children. Hige and Toboe were on duty to find jobs to report to tomorrow. Kiba and Tsume were outside helping Markis fix a hole in the thin wall.

"I didn't even get your names." He said.

"I'm Kiba." The brunette replied as he held the board in place.

"Tsume." Said the battle-scarred wolf. Markis seized up Tsume again.

"You fought in the war?" he asked. Tsume nodded no. "You Ishbalan?" he asked. Tsume cocked a brow.

"You could say that I guess." Tsume replied hammering one nail.

* * *

"So Blue was it?" Maria asked.

"Yes?" answered blue as she monitored the stew.

"Are you Ishbalan?" she asked her. Blue stiffened. To lie or not to lie is what it came down too.

"I don't know." She said slowly. "I don't really remember anything from before I woke up."

"Ohh! You must have amnesia or something like that! I hadn't even considered it! I'm sorry!" Maria exclaimed. Blue smiled weakly.

"It's alright. I mean you take in six strangers and barely know anything about, so it's natural that you'd want o know something about us." Blue reasoned. Maria nodded in agreement.

"Ms. Blue?" the little girl asked.

"Yes?" Blue replied.

"Cheza said that she wants water I think." The little girl informed her. Blue smiled and handed her a cup.

"Here give her this.' Blue replied. The little girl nodded and ran off.

* * *

The meal was ready and Hige and Toboe were home. They all corwded around the table and muttered mixed prayers.

"Isn't… Cheza going to eat?" Markis asked. Kiba looked at Cheza on his right who sipped quietly on her water. The group was silent, signaling Kiba to make something up to cover. They couldn't actually tell them that she was a moon flower, and be believed could they?

"She's been feeling ill since we woke up. I don't think she's hungry." Kiba lied.

"This one doesn't eat." Cheza supplied for herself. Markis, Maria and the children stared at her.

"That's really funny Cheza!" the little boy laughed.

"But… this one…" Kiba put his hand on hers. She instantly shushed at the contact staring at his hand on hers.

The dishes were finished in record time and it was getting late. Maria tucked the children way as Markis talked with them.

"I know our place is small but you guys can at least sleep on the pull out bed and on the carpeted floor." He reasoned. They all politely declined. It wasn't their style; they'd be fine outside.

"Besides, won't it be a bit less conspicuous if we're in your yard then in your front room?" Toboe reasoned.

The wolves knew. Aside from Blue and Tsume they all stuck out pretty badly. They were strangers he'd found in the middle of no where. Cheza referred to herself in the third person and had pink hair. Kiba's clothes... and his looks pulled him out and he was very noticeable. Toboe if his skin tanned could pass as part isiblain at least. If Hige changed clothes he could pass by unnoticed as well. Markis sighed; defeated.

"Alright. Do you want some blankets at least?" he asked. They nodded no.

"Hey think of it this way." Hige said patting Markis's shoulder," You've just received four night guards and two babysitters."

* * *

Author's note: Whew finished the first chapter. Sorry if it seemed a little slow or lacking in FMA charactors. They'll make their appearance in the next chapter and from there it should be a pretty even mix and the real story should pick up from there. Hope you all enjoyed and reviews are apperciated!


	2. Chapter 2

Next door a man awoke to look into Markis's and Maria's beautiful yard. They were one of the lucky families that had a yard worth playing or planting in. Nearly attached to the house was a small garden of herbs, spices, vegetables, and much more. And sheltering it slightly was a magnolia tree. Today the yard looked so soft like a sea of warmth.

The man then returned to rub his eyes and stare. "Furry?" he thought. Wolves four… five of them and the exotic girl with pink hair from the other day were all asleep in the yard. A wicked smile crept onto the man's face. He could kill the white and the black male wolves and sell their pelts. The other three wolves he could sell as exotic pets for a bundle as well. The girl… he might as well have some 'fun' with her first and then sell her too. His head swelled at just the thought of it.

He grabbed his gun and raced outside only to be met with the scarred and leather clad man from the other day. His eyes locked with his as he gripped his shoulder tight.

"And what are you planning on doing with that?" he asked ever so softly, "Killing something, perhaps?"

The man broke into a cold fearful sweat. "N-N-Nothing s-s-sir." He stuttered.

"Really now?" Tsume said turning the man to directly face him. "I don't think so." Tsume used his advantage of strength to pin the man to the wall. 'Now what the hell did you see in Markis's yard that made you get a gun?" he demanded his eyes narrowing in his anger. The man cringed as if he was going to be hit, and gulped loudly.

"W-W-Wolves." He replied. Tsume held his composure, but on the inside was on high alert. He started feeling edgy on the inside, but he needed answers first.

"What kind? Colors? Be descriptive, idiot." He continued his voice even more aggressive then usual. The man described all the wolves in as many details as he could make up. Each was a perfect description of each member in the pack. Not good. Tsume rammed him even harder into the small house producing a small dent and the man was choking.

"You better get your eyes checked, quack. There are no wolves here. And if you ever dare to come into Markis's yard with a gun again I won't be so nice. Got it?" Tsume growled lowly. The man nodded in a stunned silence. Once Tsume thought the message got in he let the man drop to the ground gasping for air. Like a roach the man crawled away.

Tsume kicked the pack leader awake, only to be pinned by the white wolf. Once Kiba awoke a bit more he realized there was no threat.

"Sorry." Kiba grimaced as he got off Tsume, "What's got you up so early?"

"Someone spotted us in wolf form." Tsume stated. Kiba looked at him ever so slightly panicked as Tsume filled him in on that morning's events. As He went on Kiba's frown only deepened.

"Is Markis's family okay?" Kiba asked. Tsume slapped Kiba hard.

"That's not the point! The point is we've got to get a move on! They're only safe when we leave, and we're only safe when we leave." Tsume told him. "The best plan of action is to skip town now while we still have a chance." Kiba just stared at him.

"We're fine here. We've got a place to stay and jobs to go too. We're safe." Kiba stated.

"Safe from what?" Toboe asked rolling from wolf to human.

"Darcia." Kiba replied shortly.

"That's true, I don't smell him or anyone else after us at all." Hige mumbled as he awoke rubbing his eyes. Blue looked at all of them dozily before she too transformed and nudged Cheza awake.

"When do we report to our jobs?" Kiba yawned stretching.

"In ten minutes according to the clock in the kitchen." Toboe said from looking into the window with an innocent smile. They all stared at him in disbelief. Markis was already awake and sent them packing once Cheza was in.

Blue was to report to be a babysitter's assistant who received weekly payment. Toboe and Hige were reporting to be paid by the day factory workers. Kiba and Tsume were loading dockworkers and or manual laborers also paid by the day. The work was brutal for all of them. As newbie's they got all the crappiest jobs and the most scolding for not being fast enough.

"I hate this fucking job." Tsume informed Kiba on their ten-minute break.

"At least we get paid by the day." Kiba replied taking off his jacket and tossing it with Tsume's.

"Not the smartest thing to do. They'll be stolen and sold in a minute." A man told them. He had a full beard and glasses with long white hair tied into a clean ponytail. He was working in dress pants and a sweater vest of sorts, and he definitely was not an ishbalan. Gruffly, Tsume glared at him and reclaimed the jackets putting his back on.

By the end of the day Toboe was nearly dead to the world and was barely awake enough to claim his pay. Hige had to snap at the paymaster when he tried to short him.

"Come on we've got to get back." He said stuffing the money into his pouch.

* * *

"Hello boys." Maria greeted warmly as they returned. Hige collapsed onto the table and gulped down his food, and dropped the meager pay into Maria's hand. Toboe followed his example. Tsume appeared still strong enough to stand and put his pay into her hand and thank her for her cooking.

"Why in the world-" Maria started surprised at the money in her hand.

"To help pay for ourselves. You're going to have to pick up more groceries to feed all of your children and us. Toboe is still growing after all. Hige isn't but he still eats like a pig." Tsume replied. Kiba staggered in and dropped his pay that was a bit larger then the rest and then turned and fell to the floor.

"Kiba!" Maria exclaimed coming to his side. He twitched violently as he struggled to maintain his human form. Tsume grabbed him by his jacket and tossed him outside behind the passed out human figures of Hige and Toboe. Tsume struggled to give her a reassuring smile, and it ended up looking like a painful twitch.

"He'll be fine in the morning. Don't worry." He said.

"But-"

"Trust me ma'am he'll be fine."

* * *

While the wolves were at work~

"I swear there were five of them in my neighbors yard!" the man exclaimed to the department in the city.

"And what do we care?" the receptionist asked. The man looked around carefully first. No one nearby to over hear.

"I think they're chimeras." He said lowly. The woman stiffened and eyes widened then narrowed a fraction.

"Please follow me sir."

* * *

"So you're saying that they're chimeras; and that they can completely transform into wolves." Colonel Roy Mustang said.

"Yes." The man replied from the plush chair.

"And there are six of these full wolf chimeras?" he asked.

"No, the pink haired girl wasn't a wolf. She seems normal other then her hair color." He corrected him.

"And you can confirm that they're chimeras how?"

"Well the black wolf looks like the leather clad man that threatened me. He has the same scars and everything plus the eye color matches too." He said.

"The others?" Roy asked impatient. He didn't like dealing with the lesser learned for their lack of common sense.

"Well I can't place the white wolf exactly but I think he's the model like brunette with the funny clothes. The smallest copper colored wolf has the same bangles on the same arm as the little boy, and the dopey looking guy has the same color on as the guy. Same initial in the same spot as well." He replied.

'And what about the black she wolf?" Colonel asked. Even as vague as this case was; it got his attention.

"Oh yeah, I think that the she wolf is the better dressed ishbalan look a like." He said nervously wringing his hands. Roy cocked a brow. This could be a whole new breed of chimeras that the Holocumus had just created. They could eliminate the entire town if left unchecked.

A smirk crossed his face. This discovery could put him to the top.

"Alright," he said straightening his papers, "Thank you for your report. A team of elites will be dispatched to verify your report shortly." He smiled a professional smile at him. The man looked up nervously and looked about in wide eyes.

"That's it?" he asked.

"That's all." Roy replied.

"No reward for tipping you off?" he asked. Roy smiled grew more intense. There was still that rumor that the government paid to be tipped off?

"You should be-

"Colonel Al and I are bored." Ed reported busting open the office door with his foot. Al stayed silent and peered in. Roy's face twitched, but he calmed himself and returned to being a professional.

"You should be lucky to have your life. Once again we thank you for your tip off." To his assistant he asked, "Please escort the man out." He dismissed the panicked eyed man and the doors ominously slammed shut. Ed returned his gaze to Roy.

"What was that about?" Ed asked as Al took a seat.

"A man looking for a reward for tipping us off." He replied.

"Tipping you off to what?" Al asked peering over Roy's shoulder as the nebulous report.

"A possible breed of new chimeras." Roy said flatly.

"New? How so?" Ed asked.

"Apparently these chimeras can completely transform from human to beast. I think there might be Holocumus involvement. They might be trying to strengthen their forces to combat us on the chosen day." He stated slapping the file down in front of them.

After reading it over once both of them were interested in the case. Anything with Holocumus caught their attention.

* * *

"When are you investigating this?"

"Tomorrow morning around five in the morning since that's when they were first spotted." Roy replied.

"Can we come?" Al asked. Roy looked at the two of them; they'd be perfect backup.

"Sure we leave at four." He replied with his professional smile.


	3. Chapter 3

"Whoa, those are wolves."

"Yeah they are."

"They look like bigger versions of Hayate."

"Or a bigger version of Granny's dog."

"I say we eat them."

"Just don't go eating the stomach content."

"I think Xiao Mei wants to say hi to them."

"Why are there so many of us now?!?" Roy asked. From him, Ed and Al it had developed into being Winry, Riza, Scar, Dr. Marco, May Chang, the chimera Zapanp and Heinkel, Greed/Lin Yao, Fu, and Lan Fan.

" 'Cause they were bored too." Ed said as they watched the wolves and the strange maiden from the informant's house. The black one with the scars woke first. It had nudged the bangled wolf just enough to wake him up as well. Which then triggered all of the wolves into waking up.

The white wolf nudged the pink haired girl. She blinked slowly several times to reveal her red/pink eyes. Ever so slightly she smiled and held the white wolf's head in her arms.

"They seem to obey her." Roy noted. The girl seemed to mouth something to the wolf. The white wolf then nodded and transformed into the rough haired brunette with the odd clothes. The wind picked up and the pinked eyed girl shivered. The blue eyed she wolf transformed into a better-dressed Ishbalan look alike. The collared wolf transformed into a young man with a yellow hoodie. He put his hands on the she wolf and led her inside while the rough brunette took off his brown jacket and put it on the strange maiden's shoulders.

The battle scarred wolf and the bangled one stretched and then transformed as well. The bangled one looking just a tad bit younger then Ed and Al, but much more optimistic. The battle scarred one looked fierce and as a wolf should. They too went into the small house.

All of them were at a loss for words. What was there to say? It was all true. There were full transforming wolf chimeras in this slum and they were presumably more powerful then a normal chimera.

"They could get bad." Roy said holding his head in his hands. The rest nodded in agreement, as they formed a loose circle around him.

"And fast." Lt. Hawkeye added with another series of gruesome nods.

"Yeah, being able to fully transform like that on will is pretty intimidating." Dr. Marco said, mulling it all over.

"I don't think they're chimeras." Heinkel said with Zanpano agreeing with him. They stared at the two in disbelief.

"How so?" Roy asked interested. He was now glad in a way that so many people were here. They all brought a different group of people's beliefs to the table and had different views and inputs.

"They completely transform between human and animal for one. Two they don't shed or shred their clothes like we have to when we transform. Three and probably most important is that they seem perfectly content the way they are." Heinkel continued.

"But how do we know that it's not just part of a redesign for chimeras. All of what you said could be part of it, when you redesign something you usually get rid of old flaws." Ed said.

"Too true." Winry agreed.

"But explain to us how they're happy like that." Zanpano demanded.

"Most of us were forced into being a chimera, we had no choice. We either became one, or we were killed off. And it isn't exactly a pretty experience being changed into one." Heinkel explained.

"Yeah, you get use to it, and you feel pretty powerful for awhile," Zanpano went on, "But you eventually regret it. There's no happiness in just power alone. You're never happy being one."

"Yeah, of course there's happiness in power." Greed said with a sly smile. He opened his mouth to continue but was silenced with the glares.

"But that's just your opinions." Riza said countering.

"I feel the dragon's pulse coming from one of them." May Chang said quietly. They all turned to her.

"Why? How? I mean, what do you mean?" Roy asked. These creatures, chimeras or not, were getting more interesting by the minute.

"Well…" she started, "I don't exactly know which one since they were all so close together and all. All of them could have the dragon's pulse too. But it's differently not evil like the homunculus or anything."

They all took into account that statement as well, which brought up even more questions then before. Were these things evil? Were they a threat? Or harmless? Roy gripped his hair in frustration.

"We need more information!" he announced starling everyone from there thoughts.

"Winry and Lt. Hawkeye you are in charge of watching the pink haired girl. Dr. Marco and Zanpano you two are in charge of watching the bangle-wearing boy. Ed and Heinkel you two will watch the oddly clothed one. Al and May Chang will be watching the she wolf. Scar and I will take the leather clad one." He said giving his first set of orders.

"Lan Fan or Fu would one of you mind parting from Lin Yao for a bit so someone can watch the dopey looking one?" he asked of them. Lan Fan and Fu talked for a moment agreeing that Fu would watch the dopey looking one. Roy then raised himself to his tallest and addressed Greed.

"Will you walk amongst the underground and see what might be circulating about them?" he asked. Greed cocked a brow.

"So basically, I'm gathering rumors?" he asked, with a small frown.

"Yes, or I can reveal to Pride that you're with us." Roy stated. Greed weighed the options in his mind.

"I can tackle 'King' Bradley and Pride and probably win with Lan Fan…"

"Consider it your start in the underground, your path to all that you aspire to be." Al said over his shoulder. Greed got a twisted grin on his face, and called Lan Fan since they were leaving.


	4. Chapter 4

"Well… how exactly do we go about watching her?" Winry asked.

"Good question." Riza replied.

…

"So…"

"Any ideas?"

This was a bit of a let down, since they both hadn't come up with and idea yet. And they couldn't exactly go up to the door knock and say 'Hi, we're from the government and are here to observe the girl with pink hair. Mind letting us in?'

Riza then had an idea, and whispered it to Winry. Wintry nodded in agreement it was a decent plan for now.

They ended up posing as sickened sister's who were traveling by foot to see Central City. Winry all the sudden had gotten a fever and they needed to stay put for one day. Maria and the children were more then welcome to accommodate them for the day.

"Do you soup or anything Mis Winry?" Maria asked, "There's a bit more to go around then usual."

"No thank you, ma'am. We're already imposing so much already." Winry declined lying on the couch with Riza at her side 'tending' to her.

"You sure?" Maria asked worriedly at both of them. Riza declined again and said that all Winry needed was some proper sleep and she'd be fine.

Before Maria could ask again a neighbor banged on the back door shouting. Riza patted her thigh were the gun was hidden under her coat. Maria burst in and grabbed a small black bag.

"Sorry to bother you girls again." She said bowing, "I have to go assist in delivering a baby, can you please watch my children and Cheza?" asked.

"Of course." Said Riza saluting from the floor. Maria nodded and hurried out shutting the door behind her. The little girl peaked out from behind the other side of the doorframe.

"You're not isibalan… either of you." She said one eye watching them both. Riza shrugged from the floor.

"That's true we're not." Winry said from the couch as she propped herself up on her arms. The pink haired girl suddenly came out from the kitchen and sat with both of them. Her eyes were gentle and kind.

"This one isn't either." Cheza said to them and gesturing to herself. Riza and Winry were alarmed that she had come so close to them so fast. Lt. Hawkeye was fighting her urge to unveil her gun, if she showed it, it would be over. The little girl came out and put a hand on Riza's shoulder.

"Don't worry this is Cheza. She has a large case of amnesia so that's why she's referring to herself in the third person. She won't hurt you." The little girl said. Riza calmed down as well did Winry.

"Wow, such advanced words for such a young and cute girl." Winry said. The little girl blushed in embarrassment.

"Thanks, but I said what Kiba told mommy and daddy." She said suddenly shy. A small smile kept onto Lt. Hawkeye's lips.

"Whose Kiba?"

* * *

"God, I never knew how bad factory workers had it." Zanpano commented watching the bangled boy avoid getting his fingers crushed.

"It was even worse during the war. More and more people had to come in and take jobs in the factories since all the men were at work. I can't even begin to tell you all the horror stories of doctors reattaching body parts because of factory machines." Marco replied. Fu sat there and watching the collared wolf in mild interest.

"The other wolf looks like he's going to be sick." Fu said. The plastic aproned youth was crying and held his nose in desperation.

"He's working with heated plastics. They smell awful, especially with all the chemicals." Marco replied grimly. They'd watched them all day from a newly opened widow from the roof. Fu held his chin and in his mitted hand.

"Why would chimeras have such horrible jobs? Wouldn't they just raid the place for cash and supplies then go?" Marco thought aloud. Zanpano looked at him dully. He stiffened and then bowed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." He mumbled.

"No offense taken, and it's pretty true what you said. That's why I'm convinced that they're not chimeras."

* * *

"Wow, he's pretty strong." Ed remarked, watching at the brunette's muscled bulged as he picked up a crate from the supply truck.

"The leather clad freak isn't anything to sneeze at either." Roy commented during their observation from the bushes.

"If you two are just going to be goo-goo eyed at them, why bother to bring us?" Scar demanded, with Heinkel nodding in agreement.

"Because…" Roy started addressing the two, "You're both are loyal assets to this investigation."

"Just face it, you were scared that they'd kill you without us as backup." Scar said. Roy stiffened.

"I was not. I merely wanted two people assigned to each wolf." Roy said tartly.

"Then why is only Fu watching the collared wolf?" Scar retorted.

"Because we ran out of men to watch them." Roy replied crisp.

"You could've sent La Fan and the prince with him."

"They're busy gathering info."

"Rumors don't count as info, and besides they've only been here for one day."

"Hey shut it!" Ed said in a hushed tone as the chimeras came closer to them for break. Both of them were dangerously close to their location.

"I'm telling you I saw we bolt while we can. You never know when someone like Darcia will show up." The body scarred one said. The brunette signaled him to stop talking as they both stood there unmoving.

Roy checked the wind, it wasn't moving. Were they spotted somehow? He looked over the rest of the group who were all situated on the ground and silent as graves. A rat scurried by, and the wolves relaxed.

"Tsume it isn't an issue. We're fine here. No one's after us. And if we have to we can always leave for this 'Xing' country Markis thought we were from." The brunette said. A whistle screeched and they both jogged back to work.

"I still can't shake the feeling that we're being watched." He remarked loudly.

"Of course we're being watched, by the other workers of course." Kiba replied. Tsume growled and they both started the lifting again.

"That was close." Ed remarked.

"It's his fault for being so loud." Scar said starting the fire of their fight again.

* * *

"Ew, that's just gross!" Al exclaimed walking out of the changing room.

"Al! You can't leave we have to stay here!" May Chang shouted. The only way they could observe the she wolf was to start having jobs there as well, and May Chang and Al were on diaper duty.

"Don't worry you'll get use to it soon." The she wolf commented as she finished their job for them.

"I'm May Chang." May Chang said bowing. The she wolf smiled at her.

"Just call me Blue. You both better hurry and check the other children's diapers." She said heading back into the kitchen. Then both May and Al were summoned to watch the playroom where several tots were running around pooping and barfing on themselves. May Chang went to work and Al rolled his eyes.

"I'm never having kids, ever." Al said picking one up. May rolled her eyes.

"It's only for one day. Tomorrow we'll just observe her from the roof window above the kitchen." May Chang replied. Al nodded.

"Sounds like a plan. When do we report back to Roy again?" he asked.

"When she's done working." She replied.

It was long time before any of the wolves were done with work.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry it was so long between the updates! I promise to update again soon since I have more time to type and to update more frequently. Also thanks for fallover for correcting me on how to spell Winry's name! I guess I was so excited that I forgot how to spell. ^^;


	5. Chapter 5

Observations continued on for the rest of the week. Complied notes were made, all the 'suspects' if you care to call them that were profiled, classified and everything else you could think of. All under the nose, of 'King' Bradley, who was still without a clue as to what was going on besides an investigation. Each night was longer then the next as everyone had to write out everything that went on with the chimeras in as much detail as possible.

Winry actually ended up getting sick, so of course Maria had insisted they stay until the cold passed.

'The more the merrier!" Maria exclaimed cheerfully as she brought Riza and Winry their dinner.

Riza felt horrible for imposing much longer then they had original planned, so the next day she withdrew some money from the bank and gave it to Maria to pay for food.

The wolves as you could imagine weren't all to friendly at first. They each kept a respectful distance from Winry, which was understandable. They didn't want to get sick, a completely normal response. They also kept their distance from Lt. Hawkeye even when she wasn't with Winry. Slowly though at the end of the day they had come to terms of sorts with Riza.

'So… Where are you from?' Hige began sitting in the front room on the floor. Lt. Hawkeye turned and tried very hard not to seem threatening since she was dealing with possible chimeras. She picked her words carefully in her head; they had to be broad enough so the chimeras wouldn't pick up on the real details, but they had to seem relatable as well. Otherwise the conversation would end too quickly.

'My sister and I…' she began, "Are traveling to her new job." She said. The pack nodded seeming to agree that, that statement was normal and acceptable.

'She trained to be a professional automail mechanic.' She added. She immediately regretted adding that and desperately shot a glance to see if Winry would 'correct' her. Which of course she wasn't and a knot began to form in Riza's stomach.

The chimeras shared the confused expression.

'Automail?' the boy, Toboe asked. She nodded slowly confirming that, that is what she had said. Toboe looked at… Tsume to see what he had to say about it. He shrugged to Toboe and reclined in the chair.

'So since the kid won't ask I'll ask for him. What exactly is automail?' he said, aggressively. Toboe smiled.

'It's a substitute for real body parts if you lose them. She heading off to train to learn all there is to learn about it.' Lt. Hawkeye said. The brunette, the leader figure, Kiba who was seated next to Cheza, raised a brow.

'Then why are you with her?' he asked simply.

'To keep her company, and keep her safe. There are lots of different types of people out there. Some are good and others are bad. You never know what type you'll run into.' She said. Kiba's dark blue eyes bored into her's as if judging her weighing her on his mental scale. She blinked and the eye contact broke with a shiver running down her spine.

After that the distance and coldness coming from the wolves eased and melted away. It remained that way for the rest of the week. Their joys were her joysm and her's were their's. The wolves, chimeras, whatever were like a family within a fmail and had accepted her into it.

Some would come to regret ever becoming allowing herself and Winry (when she was awake) to be part of it.

That Saterday, Winry was well enough to get back on their travels.

'Have a safe trip.' Maria and Markis said. She smiled and waved before being hugged by Blue and Cheza softly.

'We'll miss you. With you guys here we were almost evenly numbered.' Blue said. Winry and Riza smiled sheepishly at that.

'This one, will miss you.' Cheza said to both of them. They nodded.

'We'll miss you too,' they chorused. Hige, Toboe, Tsume and Kiba then each gave the girls handshakes goodbye. And watched them disappear farther and farther into the crowds.

Maria put her head on Markis's shoulder, 'It's wonderful to have a full house.'

* * *

Back at Headquaters:

Breda, Falman, Fury, and Havoc had been all week sorting through all the reports and organizing them. Only if you call throwing them into piles on the ground for each chimera organization. Everyone was all crammed into Roy's office going through their reports or someone else's and throwing ideas and opinions at each other and a crazy forum sot of way. Ultimately though, they were deciding which course of action to be taken on the chimeras. And it would take the rest of the day of deliberation to decide their plan.

'We need to take them into custody.' Roy said from his usual spot behind his desk. Everyone's heads snapped up from what they were doing to stare at him. Not angrily, not sad, but just stare at him with blank eyes.

'What for?' asked .

'We don't have anything to arrest-' Ed started but stopped 'I mean; we don't have anything to take them into custody for. They haven't done anything wrong just worked minimum wage jobs for long hours and come home to transform into wolves. They haven't stolen anything, done any damage gotten into any fights, nothing.'

'Nothing in anyone's reports has suggested any wrong doing from the past either.' Fury said adjusting his glasses.

'Lack of passport and or permission to cross borders? Birth certificates? Do we know if they have any of those?' Falman suggested from sorting them. Everyone shook his or her head.

'Did Markis mention anything like that to them when you were their Lt. Hawkeye? Winry?' Roy said turning his attention to them.

'No, I didn't hear anything about it.' Winry said.

'No Colonel they didn't speak of anything like that." Riza replied. He sighed reclining back in his chair.

'That's the most boring reason to arrest someone.' Greed said. The room shot him a dirty look; he in turn held his hands up in innocence.

'I mean to take someone into custody about. I doubt half the people living in that slum have legit birth certificates either. So what are we gonna do? Arrest them all too?' he said attempting to prove a point. Roy sighed and everyone once more turned to him for leadership.

'I know what we're doing is nit picking but we can't just leave them alone. They could turn dangerous at any minute, they still after all some form of mutant walking free. It'd be like letting Barry the Chopper walk free too even with his soul transmutated.' Roy reasoned. He knew they understood. They knew that they understood, but they still felt horrible about it anyway.

Roy rolled a map out of the slum and started making plans for 'taking into custody' in case they decided to run. Greed happily contributed to the plan in case it turned ugly. The rest lack-lusterly listened in and nodded in agreement when Roy finished.

It was time to roll.

* * *

Author's note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO rockingphillip!!! Sorry this chapter is so... well it's really just a lame filler chapter, but I've had a bit of writer's block with this story since I want it to be so good and not disppoint anyone. So I can assure you that the next chapter should make up for this chapter. So please stick around. ^_^

Also a big thank you to WargishBoromirFan and fallover for the corrections on the names. ^_^


	6. Chapter 6

The wolves awakened as usual, it was after all becoming a habit for them. Kiba or Tsume would wake first, then Hige, Blue, Toboe, and Cheza. Maria would always have something for them to eat before they left, and Markis would always give them the news update from the mangled papers he would receive.

And as usual the wolves would report to their jobs. Blue was now starting to be paid by the day instead of the week since she proved herself to be a good worker.

'Blue what's for lunch today?' a co-worker called.

'Split Pea Soup." She replied monitoring its progress. Co-workers soothed babies' wails. The girl May-Chang was gone, along with the armored fellow. She was told that they just quit out of the blue.

Not that she had time to worry about them. She was here to earn money until they could once again begin their journey and finally make it to paradise.

* * *

Tsume and Kiba were now some of the most feared workers at the loading company. With bulging muscles and fierce looks the other men kept their distance. But with all that they had drawn the attention of passers by.

'They're so handsome.' Whispered one woman to another.

'I wish they'd work at our company.' Said two men driving a cart.

Not that either one of them paid any mind to what the others said or did. They were there to work and get paid, not to dally around talking with the women that passed by or make friends. Just to work, get money, and go home. The bell for lunch sounded, and the other men dropped what they were doing and went off for their break.

Kiba had picked up a package another man had set down and kept going. Tsume was on the next truck making a quick count just as the manager of the company came by.

'Kiba this truck has 56 packages, and the other still has 25 on it.' Tsume announced.

'What else do we have to do today besides these trucks?' Kiba asked continuing to clear the path of boxes.

'Nothing according to our instructions.' Tsume said re-reading the list of jobs for that day.

'All right, I cleared most of the boxes off the ground and made a decent path, start on the 56 packages. I'll continue on the 25 left.' Kiba said, sweat dripping from his brow. Tsume nodded in his direction and set to work.

'Don't you boys want your lunch?' asked the manger. Kiba shook his head and kept moving.

'We don't have lunch.' He said, which was the truth. Kiba and Tsume didn't take a lunch from Maria because they didn't want to intrude on her other tasks at hand. Also it wasted precious working time if they did take the time to eat like the rest.

'Why don't you take a break then?' he asked.

'Because it's a waste of time.' Tsume commented, lifted two heavy boxes.

'Why?'

'If you think of the 20 minutes is lost because we all take a break to eat. If he and I keep going we can clear about fifteen boxes between us in the time it takes for the rest of the guys to eat, scratch their asses, take a leak, and then finally get back. And with those fifteen boxes cleared that only leaves us with sixty-six boxes left. Then distribute that between the ten other guys…' he continued with his explanation making the manager nod at how effective the duo were.

'And then that means by not taking the twenty minutes off that we get to leave this place about an hour early then yesterday.' He finished. Kiba looked up to nod in agreement with Tsume and started on the next set of boxes. The manager nodded and put down the box he had assisted with knowing his back would give out if he continued.

'Alright then, carry on.' He said tapping on their supervisor's door. The supervisor was informed to pay both of them double the salary for their commitment and work ethic.

* * *

'UGH! I can't take another day of this!' Hige moaned in the faculty room, Toboe with him.

'The work's not that bad, Hige.' Toboe stated. 'After you adapt to what your doing it's easy.' Hige sighed and lowered his head, his elbows resting on his knees.

'It's not that Toboe, it's the smell.' He said, once again bringing his nose into it. 'If they could just use less smelly products, I'd be fine.' Toboe rolled his eyes. Right after the bell announced that the shift was over, and that work was over for today.

'Was that the last bell?' Hige asked head perking up. Toboe nodded uneasily.

'Yeah… it was.' He replied.

'How early are we off shift?' Hige asked.

'About an hour early.' Toboe replied reading the clock. Hige sighed again and dragged himself up, and grabbed Toboe by the back of his shirt collar.

'Let's go pup, we have pay to collect.' Hige said shoving his other hand into his pocket.

* * *

'Blue go ahead and clear out for the night.' Her co-workers said as they found Blue cleaning the last of the cooking utensils. She dried her hands once more with the sodden rag.

'You sure? I'm not scheduled to leave for another 20 minutes.' Blue replied. They all nodded and one produced her envelope for the day. She took it with a smile and a wave goodbye and headed back to Markis and Maria's.

* * *

'Colonel Mustang, they're on the move.' Said Dr. Marcoh into his transmitter as the three trailed the two wolves.

'Same here.' Replied Al.

'Situation still the same here.' Went Lt. Hawkeye.

'Hhm,' went Roy as he thought. This was unusual, and out of the normal schedule for the wolves. He pondered whether or not they had been discovered. He instantly ruled that out considering how long they'd been observing them without them catching on besides the one near slip up they had at the beginning.

'Continue on with our plan. Are all the wolves home so to speak?' he asked.

'Confirmed.' Said Dr. Marcoh 'Both wolves have entered the house.'

'Same here.' Replied Al.

'Targets still remain in the house.' Said Riza.

'Yeah, the two tough looking ones are in the house.' Ed informed them finally responding. Roy sighed, regretful that they had to do this when none of them had really done anything wrong.

'Start the plan.'

* * *

The wolves and Maria were startled when a knock was heard at the front door. All heads darted to it. Most people in the neighborhood would either just walk on in, or knock on the back door. Slowly Maria dried her hands and went to the door and opened it. Kiba followed her and was standing against the doorframe leading into the kitchen.

'Hi, we're looking for a woman named Maria.' Said Havoc as the isbalan housewife opened it. She kept the door close to her side so they couldn't completely see into her house.

'That's me.' She replied with her usual happy tone.

'We've been informed that you're currently having some guests over, are they family or borderers?' Lt. Falman asked from behind Dorian. Slowly Maria turned her head slightly to look at Kiba. Kiba shrugged at her.

"They are travelers' with amnesia. We're letting them stay here until there memories return." She replied. Havoc merely nodded jotting down her statement.

'Then they're borders in your home? You need a permit for that.' Fury said as he started writing out a violation notice.

'They're not borders, just travelers who my family and I happen to be taking in until they can resume their travels.' Maria said with a gritty undertone. Kain looked up from the violation notice.

'Are they paying you for food and shelter?' he asked.

'Yes.'

'Do they often work during the day and stay during the night?'

'Yes.'

'And they're travelers you say?' he asked.

'Yes, that's what I've been telling you.' She said. A small, tiny grin came to his face.

'To me your describing borders in your home. You need a permit to accept borders and make your home a boarding house, therefore you are in violation of the city's code.' Fury said quietly, but assertively. Her mouth twisted a bit, and just before she was going to give them a piece of her mind Kiba intervened.

'I'm sorry, but she's mistaken. We're actually distance cousins.' He said quickly. Maria nodded quickly to back it up.

'I'm sorry Kiba, I'd completely forgotten what we had went over last night.' She said. This got all the officers attention.

'So Mr.… Kiba was it? You and the rest of your family wouldn't happen to have your documentation of your relations with you, do you?' Breda asked covering with the nerve fried Kain.

'No, sadly we left it back in Xing.' He said. Maria shot a strained look to the back of his head, and the officers knew they had them.

'From Xing are you? Fine nation I hear, but very difficult to get a passport and approval from. You have those with you right?' Heymans asked.

Kiba didn't bat an eye. Calmly, in his head he knew he had slipped up. It was true that they didn't have the paperwork that the man spoke of. Hell, they didn't even have forgeries of them. Kiba though, didn't care. He remained calm and made a plan in his head.

'Of course we have them.' He said the frown on his face lifting in to a straight line, not a smile, but not a frown. The officers' moods dampen drastically.

'If you so desire, I'll go get them.' He said continuing with his calm appearance.

'Please go retrieve them if you'd be so kind.' Breda asked. Kiba bowed slightly.

'Be right back.' He said turning away from the officers.

'RUN, NOW.' Kiba said scooping up Cheza and bolting out the back door. None of the wolves thought anything of it but following his out on the double.

'What's going on?' asked Hige.

'Officers came by asking about paperwork we don't have. We've got to go and now. Don't worry about Maria and Markis they'll be fine. Just stick together and run until you can't.' Kiba said. Blue, Cheza, Hige and Toboe accepted this news as it was and just ran as fast as two legs could carry them. Tsume wasn't as accepting.

"God dammit! I told you this was gonna happen! Now look at us! We have to run from the dammed officers like the puppies you guys are, and then hide! We should've just kept moving like I told you!" he swore. Kiba glanced back at him with a sharp look and picked up speed. They all continued in silence.

'Are we…" Toboe asked.

'Yes, yes we are being.' Hige replied curtly. They all had sensed it from the get go. They all knew that they were in fact being tailed, and suddenly the officers appeared with reinforcements.

The wolves stopped several meters away from the awaiting officers. All their eyes darted quickly from side to side to see if there were any ways of escape. So quickly Kiba faced them all face on with determined eyes.

'If you surrender quietly, I promise you no harm will come to you.' Roy said over a megaphone. Kiba crouched down Cheza still held in his arms. The rest of the wolves bristled for an attack.

'And how you guarantee that?' Tsume snarled back at them. Sly smiles crept onto the officers' faces.

'We can't, but you can save yourself some pain if you just come quietly.' He said. The wolves' expressions hardened as they crouched lower into fighting stances. Kiba handed Cheza over to Toboe, who took her with surprised eyes.

'We'll give you until the count of five to come over, so 5.' Roy said.

'If a fight breaks out take her and run as fast and as far as you can.' He mumbled to him. Toboe stared at him.

'4.'

'But I can barely carry her.' He said back to Kiba as if it would make a difference. He smiled at Toboe.

'3.'

'I never said you had to stay in that form.' Kiba replied facing forward once more and ending the conversation.

'2.'

An uneasy air shifted between everyone. It was one laced with adrenaline, fear, confidence, and hopes of a fight.

'1.' He said and with that Kiba lead the charge his jaws wide and everyone else in wolf form.

* * *

**Author's note**: So sorry for the lack of updating!... again... but tomarrow I'll have the next chapter posted to make up for it. :) And then there will be more consistant updates I promise!


	7. Chapter 7

Kiba

Instantly he went for the man giving orders before the man could react. The effect of the man's skull against the pavement knocked him out and Kiba continued.

He leapt upon the overly muscular man and started to rip and tear at his muscles only to be punched in the gut and hard. He flew to the ground with a cracking impact, but wasn't down for long. Even thought his stomach throbbed more then it usually would, and his head was aching more then it really should he continued until a vague memory came up.

It was him verses Darcia in wolf form. Cheza was rapidly turning into a tree and an aura was…

The memory fled as a red hooded fellow was charging him with a blade for a hand. He dodged the swipe and using the distance to launch himself from the blonde boy's shoulders onto the muscle bound guy.

* * *

Hige

He went after the smallest one first. He figured if he couldn't take out one of the big guys like Kiba and Tsume he might as well increase their chances of winning right? The glasses guy went down quickly enough. Enough blows from wolf paws to his head and chest would do that to a normal person. Then he went for the older looking man with the shrunken in face.

For an old guy he fought bravely and with more accuracy then the guy with glasses but he too fell easily enough. It was three down… and then he saw the girl, Riza, he remembered picking up the rifle and aiming for Blue.

Whether or not it was the right decision he leapt upon, the blonde with no remorse and knocked her to the ground. Then proceeded to attack her arms and face while Blue went after the muscle bound man.

Only to be hit with the strangest of forces.

* * *

Blue

Dashing after the rest she quickly took down the weakest looking one, the blonde holding a rifle. She clamped her jaw down on the trigger arm making the woman drop the gun. However she stopped when she recognized the face.

Riza. It was Riza she was fighting her eyes darted to the other blonde nearby to recognize her as well. Which wasn't such a great idea since Riza by then had recovered and grabbed the gun in her other hand and slammed the butt of the rifle on her head. Blue only tightened her grip until she heard what she thought was a crack of bone.

Then the effect of the impact hit her and her head throbbed and for a split second she morphed into a human to survey the damage as Winry aimed to shoot.

Riza however was thrown off when she saw the human Blue but didn't have a second chance at her since the collared brown wolf was upon her. Her rifle was nowhere to be seen so she freverantly guarded her face and neck against the wolf.

Blue quickly revaluated the situation and jumped upon the back of the strongest man who was currently shirtless and about to strike Kiba when she clamped onto his shoulder.

* * *

Tsume

He only wanted the strongest. There was no point in fighting if it wasn't equal match. That's how Tsume saw it, and that's how he chose the scar-faced man as his opponent.

He went straight after him, and oddly enough the man ran a bit farther back from where the commotion was, and led him down a slimmer alleyway.

'It's just between you and me, wolf' the man said. For looks Tsume guessed he was Ishbalan like Markis and family, but he was much more rugged then them. The man caught his interest.

Tsume kept a short, but reasonable distance between him and the man thinking of the moves he could do. Then his decision was made and he charged straightforward and clamped onto his right arm. The man instantly flung the wolf with some effort into the wall and aimed for his head.

Quicker then usual Tsume dodged and saw the damage and he was lucky for it too. The wall was nearly destroyed. He jumped back a little more as the man flexed his hand and started for him.

Tsume wasn't stupid; he understood completely what the man had done.

The man had purposely led him away from the others for a couple of simple reasons. Here he could attack freely and at full power without the risk of hitting one of his comrades. In this alley he limited Tsume's escape, and the possibility of a double team. It was one simple move that gave him the upper hand in nearly all ways.

Tsume however, no matter how much more logical it would be to go back. Started thinking of a new way to take the man down.

* * *

Toboe

He thundered down the maze of back paths with Cheza clinging to his body desperately. Continually, the last conversation he had with Kiba kept repeating in his mind drumming into his brain that he needed to go faster. He ducked left then right to throw off any pursuers.

He sniffed and the scent of three people… well two people and… an unknown were on his tail. He drove himself to go faster adrenaline on high, his paws bleeding with the pressure but it was all worth it. His speed was blinding, everything around him was a blur and the he was blind.

He stopped since the smoke was blocking his view. Quickly he backtracked a pace or two and sniffed. He confirmed that there was definitely a man and woman, and the strange thing were closing in on three sides, the south, northwest and northeast. He decided not to go back and he couldn't go through a wall so he had only and to go. He sniffed again. The Odd creature was on his right, the North East path. The man was on his left, Northwest. He made his decision and took his chance.

* * *

Kiba

The muscle bound guy hit him straight on in the ribcage making all his ribs crack loudly as he hit the ground once more. But before the guy could strike him again Blue was clamped onto his shoulder. He took the opportunity to go after the red-coated man with the blade.

He tackled the guy, but felt the blade slice the hairs off his foreleg. A howl escaped Blue's lungs, but before he could glance the red coat went for his throat missing it by millimeters.

'Focus, chimera.' He guy said his arm transforming into a somewhat regular hand.

'_Chimera?_' Kiba thought, but shook the word for his mind and prepped for his next attack. He tried the right leg, only to be met with cold metal in his teeth. A punch landed between his shoulder blades making him collapse with a gasp. The blade came back, but Kiba then rolled away expertly.

'_So the weapon can transform.'_ Kiba thought as he tried again with the left arm with a bit more success. The man tried to drive his blade into his back but only ended up dragging it against the back of Kiba's neck and skull.

Kiba's side was hit with flames as he was driven back. He looked to see that the guy on the megaphone was back up, bleeding a bit, but standing in the direction in which the flames had come.

"NO CASUALITIES, TAKE THEM ALIVE, NO EXCEPTIONS." He announced turning in a circle, as if they were some animals on safari that they were going to take home as pets. Which got Kiba's blood boiling as he was driven into his next attack onto the man's back then time he was aiming for the neck.

* * *

Hige

It completely absorbed him in strange warmth. It was similar to Cheza's but definitely not the same. It wrapped around his body completely cloaking in, and it felt great for the split second or two.

Then it turned into a horrible pain that grasped every part of him and drained him of any and all ability to fight or resist. It went as far as to leave him barely conscious so all he heard was voices.

'I think I overdid the dragon's pulse.' A girl's voice, a child's voice said.

'That's alright.' Said a metallic guy's voice. He felt dully something on his neck since it was so hard and cold. 'He's still breathing.'

'How do you know it's a he?' the girl's voice asked.

'There's only one she wolf in this pack.' The metal voice said.

'Isn't there usually more then one female in a pack?' the girl asked.

'Sometimes' the metal voice said the cold and hard object now stroking Hige's back. 'But each pack is different.'

'Where are we taking him?' the girl's voice asked.

'We're… to…. Okay?' was the snippet's Hige heard before he was out cold.

* * *

Blue

The muscle man didn't strike Kiba, which was a good thing. The bad thing was that he ripped Blue off causing her teeth to pull almost out of her gums. He threw her against the nearest wall with a force no ordinary person should have.

Sickeningly her back cracked no impact leaving forcing the air out of her lungs. She hit the ground with a duller thud, and couldn't find herself able to move, not even to twist her head to make sure Kiba was okay.

Her eyes darted to Hige who just crumbled to the ground. A girl, no May Chang approached him with the iron suit guy, Al. Again she was betrayed. She felt hurt, more then anyone could imagine. It was like someone had just squeezed the blood out of heart and dropped it back into her body still attached to everything.

When Al started petting Hige like some dog she wanted to bear her teeth and knock his head right off. They weren't dogs; they don't get pet like them. May Chang flagged over another man, a man who was holding something over his shoulder. It was the scar-faced man, and he stopped but she didn't see anything else.

'Blue?' Al asked from in front of her crouched down. She glared at him with one eye and let out a low and menacing growl.

'I'm sorry, Blue. We had to; we have too. It's our jobs.' He said looking down. She bared her fangs now and continued her growl and glare.

He turned his head up to look her in the eye. 'I'm sorry if Armstrong hurt you, but I have to get you back..' the pain in her back blocked out his words but she felt herself being lifted. She opened her eyes to see that Al wasn't a man in armor.

He WAS armor, and she was placed in his chest cavity. Whoever it was that lifted her in was considerate enough to put her in gently, and as soon as her entire body was in and the cavity sealed; she fell into a state between unconsciousness and sleep.

* * *

Tsume

His next move, failed. It was so odd having the man grapple his throat. Someone presumable one of the man's comrades shouted something in the distance and the scar-faced man sighed. His hold loosened just enough for Tsume to flex his neck muscles and clamp onto the man's hand for all he was worth.

The man closed his eyes and rolled his head back with the pain. Tsume grinned on the inside hoping he would let go.

'God dammit…' the man muttered before snapping his eyes and head forward with utter destruction written on his face. His hand was on Tsume's throat once more. Tsume could feel his thoughts and mind slipping away.

A howl like no other escaped his body, his teeth bite the man's fingers and with a twist he was free once more.

He gave himself a generous amount of space before trying another attack.

And another.

And another. Until both fighters were at the last of their strength. Tsume could feel every bone in his body cracking, every muscle tearing, and his brain trying to make him stop this self inflicted abuse. His spirit though, told him otherwise.

'One more attack and I have him.' He thought. The scar-faced man seemed to be thinking the same thing as they both started for each other once more.

Tsume fell. He urged his body and drew his back legs in before collapsing again. He looked at his legs and demanded his body to go, no matter what. Before he could try again he glanced back towards the man.

The man was on the ground as well struggled, with more success, to get up. Tsume only had a couple more seconds to either get up and attack or be left on the ground. His spirit said get up and fight, but his body stayed put.

With great dignity he kept his head up and waiting for the man with yellow eyes glaring and teeth shining under his slightly opened lips. The man came and with a swift movement banged his head against the ground in an attempt to knock him out.

It didn't work. Tsume was still staring at him blood trickling from some sort of wound on his face. The man grappled him and within a couple of seconds Tsume's eyes closed. The man's grip relaxed.

Suddenly the wolf's eyes were open again making a desperate attempt to keep from drifting off, his teeth bared and continually snapping in the man's face, growls as aggressive as he could make them. The man once more tightened his grip on Tsume's throat.

Tsume felt himself giving away to a state of nothing. His eyes closed and his body fell limp. The man dropped the wolf's body on the ground to make sure. He fell with a collective drop, as dust came up and fell.

Scar spent several minutes making sure, until he hoisted the black wolf onto his shoulder as Roy's flare went off signaling the return and regroup.

* * *

Toboe

For a second, he thought he was free. He had leapt over the man and bolted but he and Cheza were caught a second later by something. The force had split the two apart while he fingered the material as the smoke clear. It was a net.

'Toboe?' Cheza's voice went.

'Cheza! Where are you?' Toboe cried before touching her hand. He transformed back into a wolf and nudged her onto his back. Quickly he set to work on the rope.

He spat it out. The rope was coated with something so disgusting a dieing animal wouldn't touch it; and the rope with interwoven with some sort of metal.

Out of the smoke the man, the woman, and the assumed odd creature came and circled.

'Good net, and great plan.' Fuu said. Greed swelled with a twisted smile as he fingered the net.

'Yes, very good job La Fan.' He said. A small modest smile crossed her face.

'Let us out!' Toboe demanded his voice cracking. A laugh escaped Greed's lips.

'I don't think so. Boy.' He said coming closer.

The presence the human, but not human thing was overpowering making Toboe shrink back. He wouldn't want to be within a mile of this guy let alone be captured by him. He transformed into a wolf and bared his fangs fiercely like Kiba and Tsume would.

Greed reached out and smacked Toboe on his muzzle hard with a blank expression on his face. The hit stung Toboe's whole face. A whimper crawled out of his lips as he retreated to Cheza once again as a human, and back to the others.

She looked at Toboe with teary eyes. 'Did it hurt?' she asked. He managed a smile.

'No.' he said closing his eyes and smiling wider making his face scream in pain, but he had to hold the tears back. Cheza took his face and stroked it softly. She sang a bit, a tune similar to the lullaby she would sing from time to time, but it was different. It made him feels much better, and warm on the inside. She stopped and his eyes fluttered open.

The three people were staring.

'What did she just do?' Greed asked. Toboe kept his back turned and didn't answer. Greed grabbed the back of his shirt.

'Brat, what the hell did she do to you!?' Greed demanded tightening his grip on Toboe's shirt. Toboe jerked away a bit only to have Greed's hand twist making the shirt choke him so his face slowly changed colors.

'I'll give you one more shot to talk, otherwise say goodnight. Nod if you understand.' Greed said into Toboe's ear. Toboe nodded. Greed loosened his hold on Toboe's shirt.

'I don't know!' he cried, 'Cheza just does this kind of stuff without an explanation.' Greed's open hand balled into a fist.

'Why you smatass sonofa-'

The flare signal went off. 'Prince, it's time to return. Roy signaled.' Fu said after the flare. Greed turned to the older man with a dirty glare.

'I could care less what..'

Dorian and Breda appeared suddenly.

'We figured a signal wouldn't be enough so you get an escort.' Dorian said with his hand on Greed's shoulder. Breda took the net and handcuffed Toboe and Cheza quickly.

And they started back down the alleyway to where Roy was.

* * *

Kiba

It was no longer a fair fight, but Kiba kept at it. Afte being knocked away from Roy he started on someone else. Leaping upon a different enemy only to pulled off by another. Hige was unconscious on the ground by the armor suit who held Blue inside. Tsume was tied up, and probably unconscious like Hige. He still was happy that Toboe and Cheza had made it out.

Until from the corner of his eye he saw both of them being marched down handcuffed by two more officers, a pair of humans and a something else.

It was a mistake to look, since the muscle bound man named Alex Armstrong punched him in the side of his head. He held his face in his hand in an attempt to stop the bleeding and shifted back to wolf form only to he knocked down by the man named Scar who had captured Tsume.

And then he was pinned on the ground by a group of them and finally tired up and given a sedative. He fought off the drug as long as he could growling, snapping his jaws as he strained to try and free Cheza and Toboe who soon after were given the drug as well.

Quickly the faces began to blur events folded into each other. His eyes closed adding into the effect and then he felt nothing.

* * *

Officers

All the wolves, and the maiden were captured successfully. A few wounds here and there, but no casualties. Roy was pleased.

'Alright, let's head back to headquarters.' He demanded. Everyone nodded and started to move the prisoners and or chimeras onto the car.


	8. Chapter 8

'Where… are we?" said Toboe as he awoke alone. He held his head; it was throbbing dully as he struggled to sit up. His eyes worked themselves to where they attempted to survey his surroundings. It was one of the things he'd picked up over time from Kiba.

He was obviously underground judging by the temperature and the lightly mosssed over walls. It was damp, but not dark. Lamps were lit outside of each cell illuminating his cell. There wasn't much to look at besides three walls and the iron bars that held him in, there was a small bucket in the corner, but for what he didn't know.

'You awake little boy?" called a voice. Toboe turned swiftly to the hallway only to make his head throb even more. His body lunged forward from the momentum, and he saw stars. A voice laughed at him from across the way.

"You must've taken a beaten to be acting so weak.' The voice said. Toboe growled. The voice laughed again.

"You and your companions were such a sorry bunch being thrown into different cells bleeding and unconscious. You're the only one on this floor, and you should be grateful. Anything lower then here and you're in hell." The voice said laughing at the misfortune of the wolves.

"How would you know old man?" called a voice from Toboe's left.

"I've been down there o' course." More gruff laughter.

"And how would you have survived to get out of hell?"

"Kiss up to the guards, being an obedience man."

"Don't you have any pride?"

"O' course not, not if I ever want to get out of here."

The other celled men discussed with each other noting the old man's means of getting free.

"And how's that working out for ya?"

"I get out of here in 60 years."

"Why are you even here in the first place old man? You couldn't hurt a fly."

"I slaughtered little boys each night." The old man's face was revealed twisted, disfigured, scared over and dirty and it was looking at Toboe.

Toboe took to the back of his cell where the light didn't reach him and used the bucket.

* * *

"Blue?" Cheza asked staring at the unconscious woman. Blue managed to pull her face out of the ground and flop herself over. Faded sunlight managed to fall through the bars onto her face as it twisted in pain. Her head throbbed constantly since she'd woken which had only been once before.

"Yes Cheza?"

"It's been two days." Cheza said. Blue stared at her confused, but slowly realized what she had asked Cheza to do whenever she woke up. Tell her how many days it had been since they'd gotten here.

"That's nice." Blue said trying to smile. She regretted it as she spat up blood, and opened the nearly healed sore in her mouth. She wasn't going to be eating anytime soon; Not that it mattered. She hadn't seen food once since she'd left the daycare center.

"Does it hurt?" Cheza asked.

"Yes." Blue replied bluntly.

"Do you want water?" Cheza asked from her position against the wall near the cracked bowl on the floor. At least they had water.

"No, you should have it." Blue said remembering that Cheza only survived on Moonlight and water.

"Kiba said that everything needs water." Cheza said.

"I don't want it Cheza." Blue said from the ground. She knew that she needed water. It was a fact of life, but it would aggravate the sore in her mouth that she needed to heal.

Slowly Blue's eyes started to fade and blur the cell around her, and her eyes closed once again dragging her back to state of unconsciousness.

"Girl." A guardsman said to Cheza. Cheza stared at him.

"Give the Isbalan water." He stated.

"But Blue-"

"Do it now, or I'll kill you!" the guard snapped. Cheza carefully moved the water bowl across the floor where Blue's mouth lay opened. Systematically Cheza poured trickles into Blue's mouth, careful not to give her to much at once. Blue's mouth closed once she was hydrated once more and Cheza returned to her position against the wall.

* * *

Tsume awoke to find the passed out Hige on top of him. Quickly he threw him off.

"Ow! I'm an injured man!" Hige said clutching his head.

"Shut up, I don't need to crushing my lungs in your sleep." Tsume growled. The cell was cold and small and even on opposite walls they were close enough to touch each other if one of them fully extended their legs.

"Well at least I was smart enough to sleep near you." Hige remarked from the opposite wall.

"And how does that make you smart, dumbass." Tsume growled. Hige pointed at the cell across from them. There was on living corpse in it buried underneath all the dead ones.

"We could be like that." Hige said morose. Tsume silently agreed.

* * *

"Where are they!?!" Kiba demanded strapped and bound to the small metal chair in a windowless room. He awoken in such a state and had since then woken up like this. A door from nowhere opened.

"Kiba, is it?" said Roy Mustang. Kiba glared at Roy sat across from him.

"Well, is that accurate?" Roy implored his voice monotone.

"What's it to you?" Kiba growled.

"You should be asking what's it to me?" Roy, a smile almost crossing his lips.

"Then what is it to me?" Kiba recited.

"You and your companions lives of course." Roy said. Kiba's eyes narrowed.

"You seem to care an awful lot for your companions." Roy said. Kiba stared at him.

"It's quite odd. If I were faced in a situation where if I had left them alone they'd be fine I would have left them alone." Roy said.

"That makes no sense." Kiba said sullen.

"How so?" Roy asked curious.

"We arrived here together, they're part of my-" he stopped short.

"Pack?" Roy supplied. Kiba's face gave away.

"Don't worry, I know all there is to know about you Kiba. I know that an Isbalan man named Markis found you on the outskirts of town. I know of how you and your companions came to live with Markis's family, got jobs, and even were functional members of society. I know where each one of your companions worked, for how long, and for how much as well as you." Roy told him. Kiba stared in a daze.

"Want to know how I know so much?" Roy asked. Kiba was silent.

"I asked." Roy said.

"My friends wouldn't sell us out!" Kiba snapped lunging against the restraints of the chair. Roy looked on with an odd complacent look on his face until Kiba calmed down.

"Finished?" Roy asked.

"For now."

"Good." Roy said still as calm as ever.

"I never said your companions or 'friends' as you said sold you out." Roy said. Her produced a brown envelope and tossed four pictures to the ground in front of Kiba. It was Markis, Maria and the children.

"They're the ones that sold you and your companions out." Roy said. Kiba neck strained to look.

"They're in our custody as well." Roy added.

"They shouldn't-"

"But they are . Since they helped you and your friends out." Roy said.

"Want them to go free?" Roy asked suddenly.

"Of course they're innocent." Kiba said flatly.

"Then tell me all there is to know about you and your friends and your transforming into wolves." Kiba strained again making his chair land his head on the ground.

"WE ARE NOT WOLVES! NOW LET THEM GO!" he shouted attempting to drag himself forward. Roy stood up and placed a boot on Kiba's neck as he put more photos on the ground. Two men appeared and rightened Kiba's chair.

"That's the condition your friends are in." Roy said. All of them were emaciated and tired.

"They'll get progressively worse until one of you chimeras, wolves, whatever you are talks." Roy said opening the door from nowhere.

"Think about it." Roy said fixing his gloves as the door closed. Sealing Kiba alone with the photos and his thoughts.

He was suffocating in his own mind.


	9. Chapter 9

Roy excited only to be met by Ed and Al. Ed's arms were crossed.

'You said that you weren't going to fight dirty." Ed said. Roy sighed already knowing what was going to happen next.

"what's WRONG with you, lately? You're being way to harsh to them!" Ed shouted, marching up to Roy, his face read and steaming. Roy put his hand on Ed's hand and kept him an arms length away.

"Just shut up shorty, this is just an intense case is all." Roy sighed tired. Who knew being an interrogator would be so intense?

"I AM NOT SHORT!" Ed screamed punching Roy, who punched back. The two guards and Al silently watched as the two guys duked it out over basically nothing. It was pretty entertaining after all.

Eventually Al got bored waiting and took his brother up into a hold as the guards escorted Roy away. They both continued to cuss each other out as they were separated until they were out of ear shot of each other.

* * *

"So did you get it?" AL asked. Ed smirked.

"Of course I did." He replied producing the set of keys to the wolves' cells.

* * *

"King Bradley wants to see me?" he asked. The guards nodded depositing him on the floor in front of the King's office. Roy quickly dusted his uniform off, and slicked his hair back so he would be presentable. He nodded to the guards who nodded back and proceeded in.

Lt. Hawkeye opened the door a minute of two later.

"He'll see you now." She said opening the door wider. Roy gave a curt nod and proceeded in with a blank expression. He was shaking, literally, in his boots.

'Huh?' Blue groaned as she was rolled over. Her body shifted into human form.

"Shush, you want to get caught?" Ed said as he lifted Cheza up.

"What's going on?" Blue asked getting up quickly, too quickly. Her head throbbed and she lowered herself back to the floor.

"We're gathering you all together to get the real story. Not the interrogation story." Al replied picking Blue up.

Blue grasped most of what they had said, so she nodded. Dimly she noted that they were going farther down in the cells. Perhaps she could get some medical treatment too.

"So I hear you've got quite the case, and it's eating up quite a bit of time." Bradley said, at his chair. He finished scribbling his signature on some document or another, and handed it off to Riza. She nodded and took it.

"Take your break after that's finished, Lt. Hawkeye. And tell everyone to keep out unless it's an emergency." He called after her. Riza turned and nodded to him again, before exiting the room.

King Bradley reclined in his office chair, sighing. Roy continued to sit upright in the chair he was in on the other side of the desk.

"It's eating up so much time and resources that you even called in my secretary to help you with the capturing of the ner-do-wells." Bradley continued. Roy wanted to be frustrated, to get upset, but he contained it all.

"I couldn't find anyone else to assist me, and she used her break time so I didn't think it was an issue." Roy stated. Bradley nodded along, not seeming to care.

"That's all fine and good, but this case seems to be doing more damage to headquarters then good. What's the status of it?" he inquired.

"Currently all suspects are in custody, and are being interrogated." Roy replied.

"Whose interrogating them exactly?"

"I am." Roy said. Bradley straightened himself out, and linking his fingers together.

"I'm not going to lie. This case better be important if it's communing so much of your time. I'll give you the rest of this week to investigate, and give me the full report, otherwise just let it drop." King Bradley said.

"Of course sir."

"That's all Colonel Mustang, get back to work." Bradley said dismissing him. Roy got up and started to walk out. He was about to open the door when he was interrupted.

"On second thought…" Bradley called, "I'd like to see what you have so far. Give me what you have so far by tomorrow."

Roy nodded, 'Of course."

Wrath nodded, "Carry on."

Roy exited wanting to throw his guts onto the man. Give him his report! Baloney! He'd have Kain or someone make up a false one. He punched a wall making an indent in it, and causing other officers to stare.

There was no way he was handing back the information he knew the Holocumus already had, just so they could keep their dirty little secrets from the public's knowledge. This time, he'd expose them for who they really were.

"We have a problem." Said Breda as Roy walked in.

"What now?" Roy asked, irritated with it all.

"The wolves have been moved from their cells, and the Isbalan family we took into custody, their bail has been paid."

Roy slammed his hands on the table. This case was not getting any easier.

* * *

"SO let me get this straight…" Ed said in Granny's house where he, Al, Winry, Dr. Marcoh, May Chang, and Scar had taken the wolves off too.

"You're really just wolves that have adapted to blend into human society, and she's really a Moon Flower genetically altered to look like a human, and you're all on a quest to find 'paradise' before the end of the world, and were pursued by a cursed man named Darcia who was going to use Cheza to restore his lost love's life, but were somehow transported here on accident before you got to this paradise, then you were found by Markis and allowed to live with him until your non-amnesia amnesia lifted, but were almost shot and killed by the neighbor who reported you to us, and then were surveyed you and captured you until now, where we basically released you. Am I right?" Ed asked. Before panting for several minutes.

The wolves nodded, while the humans looked on at how long winded Ed could be.

"Well, we could have reached paradise technically." Blue said.

"Yeah, we just really don't remember anything." Hige said.

"I'm pretty sure, I died though, and the kid did too."

"Did not!"

"Shut your trap, you died next to the old drunk." Tsume snapped.

"Drunk guy? When did we pick up a drunk guy?"

"He was the one who was always following us, and trying to kill us!" Tsume snarled.

"I don't remember that!"

"I do." Said Hige raising his hand.

The room just stared at him.

"So really it was just a misunderstanding on our part." Al said, changing the subject briskly.

"It seems that way." Dr. Marcoh replied.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Winry asked.

"We'll just carry along like we usually do." Said Kiba getting up bring Cheza along with him. The rest of the wolves rose too.

"Yeah, we should just keep going towards para- ouch." Blue said taking her head into her hand. Hige took her hand tenderly.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fin- ouch!" she winced again.

"You'd do best to sit down, or lie down. I believe you have a concussion." Dr, Marcoh spoke up guiding her to the couch. Blue refused him.

"It's nothing, just a little heada- ow!" she said, sucking in air sharply.

"Let's just sit you down Blue." Hige said, taking her over to the couch. "He is a doctor after all."

"I'm fin-" she shut her mouth as she rested her body on the couch taking it all up. Dr. Marcoh turned to the rest of the wolves.

"You all have a wide spectrum of injuries I advise you to stay here for awhile and heal up before continuing on to paradise." He said.

Kiba looked to the others who nodded mostly in agreement. Kiba sighed knowing he was outnumbered on this one, and no recounting of his journey before he met them would be able to convince them.

"Alright, we'll stay long enough to heal." He said sitting down.

"I'll tell Granny we have guests." Winry said darting out of the room and downstairs.

"Sorry to crash the party." Said Greed who appeared coming through the window. Fuu and La Fan appeared at his side. "Nothing from the underworld."

"You could have saved us the trouble and just told us to meet you here." La Fan said, sighing and taking a seat on the floor next to Greed.

"But it was more fun going around on an adventure." Greed said with a smile. La Fan sighed.

"You were lost weren't you?" she said. Greed's eye twitched, and Fuu managed to keep from laughing.

"Kiba." Cheza said softly. Kiba turned to her.

"Yes?" he asked. Her eyes darted across the room before she whispered to him.

"I can't sense where paradise is."


	10. Chapter 10

As the average conversations continued Kiba managed to peel off with Cheza to talk further. Taking her hand he led her a little ways away from 'Granny's' house and towards a secluded but open field and sat down running his hand through his hair. Not knowing what more to do Cheza sat down beside him.

'So you really can't sense paradise anymore?' he asked. She nodded.

'This one doesn't sense paradise anymore.' She replied. He sighed heavily, gripping his hair.

'And when did you stop sensing paradise?' he asked.

'When this one woke up, this one didn't sense it anymore.' She replied. Kiba further tightened the grip on his hair.

This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. He should've stayed where they were instead of wandering around. Even the military jail cell was better then here. Here, he couldn't think. Here, everything was lost. His whole purpose for living this long was gone.

He felt empty, completely empty.

'Hey, we're just about to eat.' Came a friendly, but not overly so, voice.

'Where'd Kiba go?' asked Ed later on.

'Who knows? That guy is notorious for wandering off.' Replied Hige nonchalantly. Toboe nodded vigorously in agreement.

'Even though we've been traveling with him for months, Kiba still keeps a lot of thing to himself.' Toboe stated.

'Anyone seen that guy?' asked Tsume off handedly, looking around. The alchemists and company tilted their heads to the side confused.

'And just who is 'that' guy?' asked May Chang.

'You know the one who was here before and isn't now.' Replied Tsume, seemingly tired. The group continued to stare blankly at him.

'That guy who fought me, that Isbalan or whatever, with the tattooed arm, and the big slash on his face?' Tsume growled irritated. They continued to stare, mumbling that Tsume may possibly be crazy.

'THAT GUY WITH THE SCAR ON HIS FACE!' Tsume roared, storming off. Tsume couldn't stand stupid people. It took some more thinking, and puzzled looks before Ed hit a fist into his opposite palm, the invisible light bulb going off in his mind.

'Ohh, you're talking about Scar…' Ed said slowly. The room including the wolves echoed the enlightenment with and 'Ohh'.

'Now where's Winry wandered off too?' asked Granny walking in soup ladle in hand. 'I told that girl ten minutes ago that we were ready to eat and keep company.'

'I take it dinner's up?' asked Al. Granny nodded.

'Help yourselves, I'll see where that girl's gone off to.' Granny mumbled heading back downstairs.

'What was that?' Kiba asked recognizing that it was Winry.

'I said dinner is up. It's best if you eat it hot.' Winry replied in a small voice. Kiba somehow along with Ed always made her seem so small. Even though Ed was shorter then she was. But she never knew why until he saw Kiba almost break down over whatever Cheza had been saying. They were so passionate about what they were doing. It would be impossible for anyone not to be in awe of that.

'Thanks for telling us, we're coming.' Kiba said offering his hand to Cheza. Cheza stared at it oddly before taking it. Kiba then fell into stride with Winry as the trio made their way back to the house.

'Don't just shove it all in at once! You'll choke!' chided Granny as she smacked Hige in the back of his head with the ladle. Hige stopped and winced in pain but continued to vacuum up the dinner spread.

'She's right you know you'll choke like that Hige.' Blue added in her usual tone. Hige stopped and stared at the female wolf before finishing what was left in his mouth. Then he slowly, returned to eating at a more 'human' rate.

'Let him, Porky doesn't seem to be able to do much else.' Tsume commented. Toboe and Hige shot him a glare.

'Just like at headquarters.' Ed replied as he ate. Al nodded.

'Just like it was with Colonel Mustang.' Al replied. They all nodded in agreement.

* * *

Meanwhile at headquarters:

'You mean to tell me, that they made it all the way back to Resemblepool without so much as ONE officer stopping them to ask why they had such a large party?' Roy asked slowly.

'That would appear to be the case.' The subordinate officer replied.

'So you mean to tell me that, that entire town in unaware of the dangerous criminal the 'Full Metal' alchemist has brought with him.' Roy continued, rubbing his temples.

'Yes… sir.' The officer replied again.

'We take so many officers on duty to guard everyone from such issues, yet we still manage to let them slip by.' Roy grumbled.

'Ye-

'IF YOU 'YES SIR' ME ONE MORE TIME, I'LL SET YOU ON FIRE. NOW GET OUT.' Roy shouted. The officer saluted, before running off on double time. Roy sighed slamming his head on the table. Today had not been a good day.

'Sir, King Bradley wants that report, what should I tell him?' asked one of Roy's secretaries. Roy sighed; one more thing to remember.

'Tell him, I'll have the complete report by tomorrow. And inform all officers under my command that tomorrow we're going on a hunting trip.' Roy said swirling his chair away.

'A hunting trip, sir?' she asked awed slightly.

'Yes, a hunting trip.'

* * *

Resembool, Granny and Winry's house:

'I don't see why we have to be split up by gender.' Said Hige elbowing around trying to make space.

'Because it's indecent if we don't.' replied Ed.

'We slept all together before just fine.' Toboe said from next to Tsume.

'That was in the middle of nowhere. Now you're in society, and society frowns upon unmarried couples sleeping together.' Said Al.

'That's just stupid.' Said Toboe.

'Well that's life, get over it kid.' Tsume said rolling so his face, faced the wall. 'And all of you shut up while you're at it.'

Toboe and Hige made faces at Tsume's back, but eventually gave up and sighed. Cramming six guys into one room wasn't the easiest task to accomplish, not to mention how big Al was. Ed managed to fall asleep instantly, and Al just watched over them all.

'Are you two comfortable?' asked Winry to Cheza and Blue. Cheza nodded, managing to sleep in front of the window. Blue curled beside her, keeping her safe once more. Winry and Granny nodded as they took to the beds with May Chang at Winry's side.

* * *

**A/N**: I apologize for the lack of updating. (bows) I promise that I'm trying to update monthly if not bi-weekly from now on. I apperciate reviews, so that I may improve on my works not to mention like every other author on this site has stated, it makes me more willing and likely to update. I hope all is well with everyone else!


	11. Chapter 11

"Colonel… why are we going on a hunting trip in the middle of our assignment? Didn't those chimera captives get away, shouldn't we be looking for them?" asked a young officer. Roy Mustang turned fires in his eyes and a twisted smile on his face.

"This is part of our assignment. We're going hunting. Wolf hunting."

* * *

There was a loud rapping that came at Granny's door early in the morning around five o 'clock. All the guys stumbled out, as did the girls. Moaning and groaning, they made their way to the door as Winry opened it.

'Can't it wait until later, like noon?' Winry said opening the door. She was shocked to see two neighbors with the military insignia on their coats.

'AS long as you and your guests stay inside they should be fine. There's a pack of mange and rabid wolves traveling around and they've taken up residence in our woods. There's a military issues wolf hunt going on, so please just stay inside. We merely came to warn you Ms. Winry." Said her neighbor.

Everyone was wide awake at that news. Wolves, in their town, and a wolf hunt by the government? It spelled trouble. Blue managed to instill the hope that maybe it truly was as it sounded and that a wolf pack was in the area. Winry's eyes went wide as she stole a glance at the wolves she had come to know.

'Wait…' Winry asked as her neighbors left. They turned. 'Whose in charge of the hunt?' she asked.

'Colonel Mustang of course.' They replied.

Winry nodded, and thanked them for the warning without another word and closed the door behind her. The house was deadly quiet, and ill omens seemed to hang in the air. Striding in the kitchen she had formulated a plan for the wolves once more. They would escape. They would be free. She had decided.

However coming upon the family door, she discovered everyone huddling. She peeked in only to see Ed and Hige already asleep.

'THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE NAPPING!" Winry shouted outraged that those two couldn't keep themselves awake for ten minutes in the morning. Both guys bolted up at Winry's shouting and smacked their heads together.

'OWW!' Hige and Ed howled.

'Good job hitting me." Hige growled rubbing his head.

'I think you have it backwards you hit me.' Ed glared.

'Can it shorty, we all know you hit me.'

'Shorty! Well at least I'm not a fat pig!'

'I'm no fat pig! I'm a-

'THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO BE FIGHTING EITHER!' Winry shouted again, making all the nearby animals scamper or fly off. 'We have to figure out a plan! A course of action! This hunting trip is a farce something Roy created to distract the peoples' attention and give them a chance to shoot you as soon as you run! You know what he's going to do to you once he catches you right?' Winry first shouted, then slowly deteriorated into an almost plea.

The room finally caught up to the ill omen of the house and what the early morning knock had been about. Everyone clammed up as their minds went on to the thoughts of what could, and would happen.

'They'll come here and raid the place, and take us all into custody.' Ed said finally leaning against the wall breaking the silence. They all turned and stared at him. 'They'll take Winry and Granny into prison and release them within a day or two to scare them into submission but no harm will come to them since they're law abiding and female citizens.

Al and I will probably be taken in for questioning, and locked up for awhile while the officers' debate if we should be tried for treason. King Bradley will probably step in and defend us, or take us to 'Father' to see what it was about. If we're freed, we'll probably be assigned a guard or something to keep watch on us. If we're not we'll be executed, or rot in jail cells the rest of our lives, possibly becoming like Barry the Chopper. More likely the first option then the second.' Ed stated completely monotonly aloud not meeting anyone's eyes.

Blue was about to speak but Ed started again. ' As for you wolves, I honestly don't know. They'll probably keep you a secret from the public. You'll live out the remainder of your lives in prison, being tested an experimented on until you die. Personally, neither option seems pleasant.'

Another long silence followed as they dwelled upon what Ed had said. A fist met the floor in a surprising boom. Tsume's fist was red with blood.

'So we're going to just sit here and let them cart us all away?' Tsume said in a menacing tone, daring someone else to speak.

'We're not-' Kiba began his eyes closed, and head in hand, but Tsume grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted him in the air.

'What do you expect us to do oh powerful leader of the pack? Fight them again? We're not you, you dipshit! Are you going to make Blue fight again? Toboe? Hige? Just because they treated your wounds doesn't mean they treated our you asshole! They're more banged up then you'll ever be in your life! OR maybe you think that these convert turncoat humans are going to help us? Look at that freak and his minions that captured Toboe and Cheza? Do you know where they went off too?' Tsume ranted at Kiba. It was true. None of the things Tsume suggested were remotely possible to disprove. Especially since no one knew where Greed, La Fan, and Fuu ran off too.

'Or maybe you're going to make that girl, and her old lady fight for us! Kiba, you're a fucking moron to think the usual method of fight it out will work!'

'I never said we were going to fight!' Kiba shouted ripping at Tsume hand as Tsume let him drop.

'oh really? Then what's your plan? Because fighting seems to be the only option in your book!' Tsume snapped.

'I was going to say-' but Kiba stopped. What was he going to say? Fighting. To fight them off. That was exactly what he was going to say, just like Tsume said. Kiba fumbled standing up, his brow somehow sweating profusely.

What other options were there? He'd never used any of them before except to run when necessary. But when the enemy knew all the hiding places, where was there to run?

Kiba fell to the floor, and for once no one dared to even offer to help him. They all just stared at the fallen wolf.

'So the core of the group falls.' Al said softly. All eyes turned to the suit of armor.

'If you take out the base, everything else falls. Will you fall along with him?' Al asked, somehow becoming wiser then his years in an instant. Suddenly Cheza rose and went to the window. Her feet padded across the floor with muted almost silent steps. When she got to the window, she did not draw the curtain, but only looked towards where they had come.

'There.' She pointed. The rest of the group came forward; taking peaks out the window trying to follow her line of vision, but did not succeed.

'Where?' asked Blue softly to her.

'Back where you arrived.' Said Ed. He nodded his head as if to affirm what he had said.

'When you think about it, it makes sense. You've should've stayed put and gathered more clues as to what was happening.' Al said returning to his normal tone of voice.

'Then again, it was a dessert where they awoke. They could've died staying there.' Countered Ed.

'Still, you'd think-'

'It doesn't matter. We just need to go back.' Said Toboe softly. Hige and Blue nodded. Tsume unwillingly, agreed.

'Yeah, we need to get back there.' Tsume said his arms crossed.

'But why?' asked Winry. She wasn't a wolf and she wasn't following it as well as Ed or Al, so she was confused. Why would they want to go back to some barren area? She looked around nervously, embarrassed at her outburst.

'Yes, do tell." Said Ed. Toboe turned an angelic and calm smile on his face.

'Because Cheza always knows which way to go.' Toboe replied.

'That's the way home.' Added Blue, as Hige held her hands in his, his arms encircling her waist.

'Because it's the most logical thing to do.' Tsume grumbled.

'Because that's the way to paradise.' Kiba said pulling himself off the floor. 'She's the compass to getting there. She always has, always will be. There's no other guide to paradise in existence.'

Somehow, tears were brought to Winry's eyes.

It was amazing how one action could change the mood of the group completely. One action that completely changed their course. One action that brought back one important thing; hope.

So with reaffirmed hearts the wolves sat down and started conversing on the best course of action. Ed and Al retrieved a map of the surrounding area and started to help plot the course for the wolves. Winry just nodded along, trying to understand, which she ultimately and overall did.

There was no way the wolves were going back to prison.

* * *

'Sir, why are we on the country rode? The foot patrols are taking care of this.' Said a subordinate officer. Roy kept walking along the rode with firm footsteps, and a commanding air.

'Because we're going to the house of wolves.' He replied sharply. The subordinate officer flinched.

'House of wolves, sir?' he asked curious.

'Yes, an acquaintance of mine is keeping the wolves in their home. We're just going to collect them, and the acquaintance.' Roy replied brisk, each step getting him closer to the house that was still in the far distance. Then all was quiet, as Roy continued to march along.

'Sir?' the officer asked meekly.

'What now?' Roy growled.

'Then why is everyone else stationed in the woods?'

'In case they elude our capture. Where else are they going to go besides the woods? Walk in the street? They already stick out like sore thumbs; it's only a matter of time until they're back under my jurisdiction.' Roy stated.

'But…'

'But what?' said Roy turning to face the young officer. It actually appeared that he might have something important to say.

'They say that King Bradley is going to take over this case.'


	12. Chapter 12

Roy suddenly grabbed the man's collar and drew the officer's face in. 'What. Did. You. Just. Say?' Roy accented. The terrified officer nearly fainted in fright.

'Th- Th-They said K-K-K- King Bradley was go- go going to take over operations.' He managed to tremble out. Roy dropped him at once and continued to march on without fear.

King Bradley his ass. That man was not going to get credit for HIS work. He'd capture the wolves and he'd do it, NOW.

Without warning Roy kicked down the door to Winry's house only to find it vacant except for Winry and her grandmother.

'Where are they?' Roy asked stiffly, as his eyes darted about the kitchen.

'Where are who? If you're looking for Ed and Al I already did my service maintenance on them. They left.' Winry replied as coolly as she could. If her hand weren't lying flatly on the table it would've been shaking wildly. Roy came closer to her ear.

'Close but not quite that's not everyone on my list, now where are they ?' Roy asked again seething his displeasure. Winry looked away from the Colonel in defiance.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' She replied.

'Don't play dumb, girl.' Said Roy's guard coming forward. He grabbed the back of her head gripping her hair. Roy's hand came out of nowhere to slap the officer in the face.

'That's not the way to interrogate a lady!' Roy roared at how out of control everything seemed to be getting. This officer was a moron!

'Excuse me, sir, but you'll never get any information of her treating her like she's equal to us!' The subordinate officer growled back. Roy got in his officer's face.

'Stand down, I'm handling this interrogation.' He said lowly in a voice that shouldn't be questioned. The officer sneered. 'And if I refuse?'

'TAKE THAT!' Granny said as she bought them both down by jumping upon them and hitting them with one of Ed's discarded automail arms. Winry was in tears.

'Granny' Winry wailed, 'I was working on a new form of automail with that one!'

'Well you shouldn't have put it by the junk pile.' 'I did not-' So the two women fought each other with words as the two men fought each other with fists.

'You heard that Al?' asked Ed his hands in his pockets as he trudged behind the wolf pack as water dripped from the overhanging trees.

'Hear what Big Brother?' asked Al. They had taken cover in the woods; the woods opposite of where the search parties were focused. As soon as they debated and adjusted the course of action they finalized it on an old map and headed out. Winry and Granny were civilians and wouldn't get into much trouble if they stayed behind. As much as jail didn't appeal to the two women; they agreed to play dumb and go to prison.

'Nothing Al, forget about it.' Ed replied picking up the pace a bit more. They'd already been at it for an hour and a half, and they were already out of the town limits. Ed and Al were to follow the wolves back to where they had come from in hopes of finding a clue as to how they got there. After that… that part of the plan was still in the works.

'Kiba says to keep it down; hunters are coming in closer. This one and you are to hide.' Cheza said suddenly from Kiba's back. Ever since the leader figure had crumbled under pressure he hadn't let Cheza out of his sight.

'Where do you expect us to hide? Up a tree?' Ed growled. Tsume suddenly shifted from wolf to man.

'No in that cave up ahead. Kiba and I can take care of these guys real quick.' Tsume said, to a freaked out Ed and Al. He cracked his neck and knuckles as Kiba let Cheza off. He too transformed quickly in front of Ed and Al.

'The rest of you guard Cheza and the cave.' Kiba said. The group nodded, as they transformed in an instant. Ed looked just about ready to have a heart attack.

'DON'T DO THAT WITHOUT A WARNING!' he shouted suddenly making all the animals flee, and the fly off. Kiba and Tsume glared at him.

'Good job shorty, now they're sure to find us.' Tsume glared taking off.

'I'M NOT-' Al quickly muffled him and dragged his older brother into the cave without another word.

'Just another day.' Tsume mumbled to himself from their rocky outpost. Kiba nodded as they both watched the three-man squad stroll by. They were almost gone when the last one spotted them.

'Shall we?' Kiba asked jumping off.

'Did you even have to ask?' replied Tsume not that far behind him. Tsume managed to take down the first guy by just tackling him to the ground alone. Kiba started using the limited amount of marital arts he knew before doing a wolf takedown. The third guy radioed in their situation and location before Tsume knocked him out.

'Shit…' Tsume mumbled admiring a new scar on his arm. 'Yeah, I know.' Kiba said his foot mounted on a man's back.

'Looks like we'll have to fight them off.' Tsume replied grudgingly. Kiba smirked.

'And who was the one perching about a certain someone using that option too much especially since we're injured?' Kiba taunted with a grin. Tsume frowned a glare in his eyes.

'So what's your brilliant plan?' Tsume growled out.

'We get out of here fast, and run towards where we came from even faster.' Kiba said heading back up the mound side. Tsume twitched slightly, but didn't say anything more and followed him.

'So you're saying that they were never here?' Roy said his professional smile twitching. Winry nodded, 'Never had any of them over.'

The two arguments had since been settled mostly with Roy knocking out his subordinate officer, who was currently a bloody lump on the ground. He had continued his interrogation of the women in his own fashion and had gotten nowhere. They had made a plan not to talk and it was pissing him off.

'Winry, you helped with their initial capture and scouting, yet now you're claiming they weren't here.' Roy said slowly. Winry rolled her eyes.

'Because they weren't here.' She said her hand slamming onto the table. 'That's what I've been telling you for the past hour and half!'

'I hope you clean up the blood…' mumbled Granny. Roy folded his hands together, and his forced grin grew even more forced and his face almost began to convulse. They. Were. Pissing. Him. Off.

'I'm afraid I don't quite believe you two.' Roy said getting up. 'So I'm afraid you'll have to come back to headquarters with me.'

Winry got up and started for the door. A couple of other officers suddenly came in fully armed. 'Colonel Mustang we have news to report on the wolf hunt.' They all stated saluting him. Roy's face relaxed.

'That's good. We just need to apprehend these two women first, and then I want to hear all the details.' Roy said with a small gesture. Suddenly two men slide behind Winry and her Grandmother without a word. They both could feel strong hands gripping their arms ever so.

'Now please escort them back to headquarters.' Roy said with a nod. He turned to the nearest officer and asked for the report.

'Well that's interesting, head out there and block off this part of the forest.' Roy said over a map after absorbing the flood of new information.

'Good job with operations so far Colonel Mustang.' Said a powerful voice coming forward from the shadows. Roy stiffened as the other officers rose and saluted.

King Bradley stepped forward. 'That plan is wonderful so please commence it gentlemen. Colonel you must be tired, in fact I know you are, so I'm reliving you of this particular mission. I'll be taking over.' Bradley grinned.

Roy's face flew into a split second fury but he controlled it quickly. 'Of course sir.' He replied simply.

'Oh, and I think I'll be using this house as our new base of operations.' Bradley added simply admiring the house a bit more.

'Of course.' Roy replied with a salute. 'You're quite right sir I am tired. I hope you don't mind if I take a rest.' Bradley sat down his leg on his knee, and nodded.

'Of course, but be sure not to take too long.' Bradley grinned. Roy nodded matching his grin then walking out calmly of the house.

Once out of earshot Roy was a blur of curse words, and storming. There was no way he was letting this go. He'd help those wolves escape, even if it was only to thwart Bradley.


	13. Chapter 13

'Hey, why are we stopped?' Ed asked Kiba. 'Something's going on down there.' Kiba replied.

'Mind explaining it to me?' Ed asked. The differences in senses and perception were a bit of a problem. The wolves always knew something was up before Ed or Al did. Frankly, it was pissing Ed off just a little bit.

'There's the smell of gasoline and the smell of burning leaves.' Tsume said bluntly. Ed paled, and Al looked concerned. Toboe lifted his nose in the air and sniffed some more. 'It doesn't seem that you're mixing together though.' Toboe replied happily.

'Is that really something to be happy about?' asked Al. 'Heh, of course it is. It means if we run fast enough we won't get caught up by it.' Said Tsume seemingly excited for the new challenge. It was not explained to Ed and Al that Tsume had done a lot more dangerous activities back in their world. Something like this came off as an easy challenge to him.

'So Kiba, what are we going to do?' asked Ed. Kiba's wolf lips curled into a smirk. 'Well, we're going down there of course.'

* * *

'How dare they throw us in a cell!' Winry cried, slamming her fist against the wall. The cell they were staying in was similar to the one Blue and Cheza had stayed in. It wasn't even guarded, since every man in town seemed to be involved with the wolf hunt. However, the firm sound of military boots came through and Roy appeared bearing keys.

'Let's go. We need to help the wolves.' Roy said opening the door. It creaked open and Winry looked at him coldly.

'Why should I trust you?' she asked. Roy tossed the newest orders at her. She opened the rolled up paper carefully. It was an order to kill all the wolves, and anyone who was traveling with them. She glanced up at him fearfully.

'So either you tell me where they're headed or they can die.' Roy stated flatly. Inside he felt horrible for treating her this way, but it was for her own good. He couldn't be like Ed and Al and involve her in military affairs.

Winry drew out the second map and gave it to Roy, explaining it to him. The red path was their main course to where the wolves had originally come from. The blue path was the second course of action if the red path happened not to be accessible.

'And this green path?' Roy asked pointing it out. Winry shrugged. 'I don't know. Kiba made that mark on it and didn't explain it.' She replied. He nodded preparing to leave. Just before he left the jail he glanced back.

'Where are they trying to go?' Roy asked. 'To where the wolves first woke up.' Winry replied.

* * *

'Well, this isn't good.' Hige said srtaching his head. Tsume rolled his eyes. 'Good observation-' but before Tsume could finish Toboe covered his mouth. 'This isn't the greatest time to be fighting.' Toboe said from a forced smile. Tsume took off Toboe's hand from his mouth and was ready to break it when Kiba interrupted.

'We go around this town, and then start again on the red path as planned.' Kiba stated. Ed nodded drawing out the map from his iconic red coat. He, Al, and Kiba poured over the map once more making sure everything was still in order. Yup, this was the town they were suppose to pass through. Once, they reconfirmed their location Ed rolled up the map.

'Alright, let's go.' Kiba said morphing back into wolf form. The rest did as well.

'Chimeras! More attack-' The wolves and Alric brothers turned to see an old man fall to the ground, dead. Ed went towards him only to feel a hand grab his jacket. It was Cheza, with a blank, even for her, expression. Kiba phased again into human form.

'There's no time to investigate. You'll have to let this one go.' Kiba stated firmly, but not over bearing.

'Theives of life, each and every one of you! Down with King Bradley and the freaks that follow him! They should have burned here instead of-' another villager fell to the dirt. Ed and Al began to get a sickened feeling in their guts.

'We've got a bit of a problem.' Ed said turning. 'What kind of problem?' asked Hige.

'A problem that could end our exsistance.' Al replied grimly. Ed crossed his arms and nodded in place. The wolves drew closer curious about this new person.

'Did anyone tell you of … King Bradley?'

* * *

'Squad X reporting; No sign of the wolves here.'

'Squad Y Reporting; No sign of them in this area.'

'Squad Z reporting; No sign of the wolves here. I think it safe to assume that the wolf pack is no longer in this area.' Said the Squad Z commanding officer. King Bradley came a throatly noise as a response.

'Safe to assume, that's a laugh. Nothing is safe to assume in times of crisis. However, in this case we'll go with it.' King Bradley said smoothly to the gathered officers in the room. They all nodded blindly in agreement.

'So gentlemen the question is what to do now, any suggestions?' King Bradley inquired. Not a soul moved, and not a soul spoke. He tutted his disapproval, and shook his head.

'Well this is a bit disappointing that no one has a clue what to do next.' He said a little laugh following, 'I suppose this is what I am for though.' He grinned at his officers.

'Let me ask you this gentlemen,' he started, 'If you were wolves, and you knew you were being persuded what would you do?' The gathered officers looked at each other blankly, until one spoke out.

'Flee?' suggested one. The other mumbled in agreement. Pride shook his head at how simple the human mind seemed sometimes.

'Not quite, let me rephrase. If you were being presude, and you had a place to go opposite of where you were being hunted from, where would you go?' Pride asked once more.

'Wherever it was that you were planning on going?' said a younger officer quite meekly. King Bradley's face had a small smile on it.

'That's more like it.' He agreed with a pat to the man's shoulder. He turned to address the rest of the room, 'So now that we have our answer what is our course of action?'

'Figure out where the wolves went?' said another. King Bradley gave a small smile. 'Almost. We have to figure out where they're going.'

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the ridulously short chapter, I just wanted to post something before things picked up, and I wouldn't be able to acess my computer. I'll try have another chapter up before my vacation, but no promises.


	14. Chapter 14

The wolves continued to lope quickly through the forest avoiding any and all traveler's, and towns. They were fast approaching the city known as 'Central' but were having minor difficulties.

'Hey!' Ed called, Al calling to the wolves as well. Both Elric brothers were barely keeping pace with the lithe creatures. 'I say hey!' Ed stated a bit louder. The wolves continued on as if they hadn't heard him, and even seemed to pick up the pace.

Ed twitched and Al shudder. 'I SAID HEY, DAMMIT!' Ed shouted making all the game animals for miles flee. The wolves slowed down, and then stopped as Ed and Al jogged to catch up with them. 'We-' Ed panted, 'We aren't like you, we need a break from running so much.' Al nodded. 'Big Brother can't take much more.' He spat out, also bent over from the run.

Kiba nodded and shifted back to his human form. 'We were just going to take a break as well. I'm impressed that you both kept up with us for so long, though.' He said unfazed, and didn't look tired at all. The other wolves shifted as well, Toboe being the last.

'I smell rain.' He stated staring at the grey cloud sky. The brothers and the wolves looked up to see lighting in the clouds. 'Think we should find shelter for the night, Kiba?' Hige asked returning his gaze forward at their leader. The rest did as well, staring at him. Kiba merely nodded. 'Let's see if there's another cave near by.' Kiba stated walking at a brisk pace forward.

Tsume rolled his eyes, but went along with the group uncomplaining.

The group managed to find a quite large cave near a small but moving creek that was down and away from the cave. Grass was pulled and moved in as Ed, Tsume, and Kiba went off to hunt up some dinner.

'I just hope you didn't scare away all the prey, midget boy.' Tsume mumbled before shifting into a wolf. Ed snapped, 'I'M NOT A MIDGET!' Blue promptly smacked Ed on the head, scolding him for once again scaring away the prey. Once she was finish, she sent him on his way.

Cheza and Al were finding dried wood for a fire. Toboe was continuing to pulled grasses for bedding, and she was using the abandoned bowls she'd found to get water.

The storm continued to roll forward at a quick pace.

* * *

'Kind Bradley, more news.' Said an officer stepping into the Rockabell's occupied kitchen. Bradley reclined in his chair.

'Well what is it? Hurry up, I'm busy.' He said in an oddly clam tone. The man still flinched. 'Well, sir it seems as though a storm is coming through. A large storm.' He stated nervously. King Bradley nodded, closing his eyes and returning back to the map on the table. It had been one taken from Winry while she was being escorted to central. They were working on deciphering the three different colored lines on it. All they had in common was they all lead to the same place.

'Well, that's going to make it a bit harder to catch them.' Bradley stated. He pointed at the red line at a spot 30 or 40 miles away from Central. 'I believe that they are taking this path, and are approximately here.' Bradley stated. The other commanders looked up at him startled, and nervous. One spoke up.

'Sir, I'm not so sure they'd make it that far. They still are all to a degree injured. I believe that they are on that path though, just-' the other officer pointed at a spot on the map farther back several hundred miles back, 'Jus more likely here. I think you're overestimating how far they can go.'

Bradley nodded. 'But it is better to over estimate then under estimate.' He stated. 'I want officers situated where I just pointed. We'll let them think that they can make it past us and into the city; but we'll just trap them there.'

The officers nodded, and started to telephone the newest plan to the others. 'I want whoever is brave enough to bear the weather to return to Central, everyone is not will stay here for the night. We leave to Central at dawn.' Was Bradley's next command. He got up and headed up the stairs.

'I will now retire for the night.'

* * *

'That could've gone better.' Kiba said after they finished eating.

The prey had been scarce. Only four rabbits to feed, five wolves, and Ed. Al politely declined to eat because of his condition, and Cheza merely drank water.

The storm was wild; rain came down thick and fast. It was so heavy they couldn't see farther out then a couple of yards out of the cave. The wind howled wildly and whistled through the cave giving everyone a chill in their spine. Lighting stuck at various times, making cracking sounds that probably stuck down large trees. Thunder continuously rolled, and crashed.

'Well, no use staring morbidly outside. I'm going to sleep.' Tsume stated retreating to the back of the cave on a pile of greens. He shifted to wolf form, and closed his eyes. Toboe yawned, and curled up near Tsume. His head coming to rest on the older wolf's back. Blue and Hige curled up close to each other bodies touching, and brushed Toboe's side. Kiba took Cheza's hand, and lead her to the center of the wolf circle. He too turned into a wolf, and curled protectively near her.

Ed and Al were left near the fire. 'Big Brother, you should sleep in the middle of the wolves too.' Al said. Ed shook his head as a yawn escaped. 'No way. I'm not leaving you by yourself.' He said. Al shook his head.

'You really, you should. I can see you shivering with the cold.' Al said pointing at how Ed was hunched over trying to keep warm. Ed glanced over at the wolves, then at the fire.

'No. I promised you before I even became a dog of the military that'd I'd never leave you.' Ed said, his eyes fluttering. It was only a matter of time before he fell to the ground asleep.

Al stamped out the fire with his iron feet, and grabbed his brother. Ed didn't stir. Al then carefully maneuvered between the wolves to deposit his brother in the center of them.

Then, he seated himself against the wall. It was going to be another long night.

* * *

**A/N**: I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, or with a better chapter! I went on one vacation, returned, only to go on another three day vacation! Now I'm finally back, and caught up with everything so I finally have time to update! I apologize for the filler-ness of this chapter. I promise the next one will add more to the main story. And on another note; I've finally got around to finally watching the FMA anime! Before this story was mostly based on the manga, but now I have more material to work with. If the story style shifts a bit, it's because of that. Another chapter shall be up tomarrow! Please look out for it!


	15. Chapter 15

'What?' Ed said looking around. The area was calm and serene looking, not the uncomfortable cave they were trapping in by the rain. A breeze touched his face, and blew his hair gently.

Wait.

Ed's eyes scanned the countryside only to be struck by a familiar-looking house. Their house, the same house that they had set up in flames so they never had to return. What th-

'Look mom, look!' went Al's voice. Ed started running to the backyard by the laundry line, and managed to pass through the fence. 'Oww…' Ed said, only for no one to notice him. So he went up to touch his younger self that was beaming with joy. He passed through.

'Well, I think they're both lovely.' His mother went. Ed turned around. His mother was still smiling like she always did, and touched their heads tenderly. Ed's mechanical hand balled into a fist. This is the part where he'd snatch it back and run. Little Ed snatched the creation away and ran.

What the hell was going on?

Ed thought about this everyday, never forgetting this one memory of when it was okay. When he still had his arm and leg. When Al… had… his…. body…. When…. His…. Mother….

Suddenly the chain of events moved forward flashing through all the memories, even through his mother's death, and slowing at the human transmutation. 'No…' Ed spoke to himself.

It was absolute torture to be reliving the worst mistake of his life. Freverantly, he started to grab at his former self. 'STOP, You'll regret this!' he shouted trying to grab hold of his sleeve. 'Al! AL! Talk me out of this! Do it or you'll-' his voice faded, as Al passed through him. Then Ed found he couldn't speak, and watched his mistake come to life once again.

Only this time, he, Ed, disappeared completely, and Al remained. 'Al?' Ed said taking a step closer. Al turned, with darkened and lifeless eyes. 'It's all YOUR fault.' Came Pride's voice from Al's body. Ed fell onto his rear in surprise as Al came closer. 'This has already happened Fullmetal Alchemist, and it's all your fault. Your-' the Al imposter with Pride's voice smirked, 'Your PRIDE, got in the way.'

'No…' Ed said sweating, 'NO!'

And then he started falling through an abyss, and landing in a dessert area. On one side were eight figures only marked with shadowed faces and various forms. The other side was Al and the wolves. They started for each other at a dead run.

'No…' Ed whispered. 'Please… Just….'

'Just what?' came a small figure that broke off from the pack, once more using Pride's voice. 'Just stop? I don't want you to DIE?' he mimicked in a baby voice. Ed saw spurts of blood, and Al's seal dripping, before it all went dark.

* * *

Al

Al observed Ed flinching and straining in the dark. 'Big Brother..' Al murmured getting up. That was when he noticed one of the wolves straining.

* * *

Hige

'He's just a traitor for that bitch.' Tsume growled. 'I'm not a traitor!' Hige snapped back. Tsume strolled up to him and twisted his collar in his calloused hands. 'Then what's this for?' Tsume jeered at him. Hige fell silent. Tsume started to smirk. 'Don't think it's just a fashion accessory, dope. It's a tracking collar dumbass. She knew where you were and where you were going before you even knew.'

'That's not true!' Hige screamed, jerking away from Tsume. 'Then explain how all these stuffed wolves look just like you! Explain why they're all wearing the same damn collar!'

'I don't know!' Hige denied, crouching into a ball.

Tsume's logic was perfect. Everything pointed to Hige's betrayal. Everything in this hall was corrupting everything the others had come to know him as. And the saddest part was, that Hige couldn't explain a thing. He felt a thin hand on his shoulder. Glancing up he saw Blue.

Blue, with her beautiful looks staring at him. Staring at him with saddened eyes.

Suddenly things flashed forward, and it was a barren wasteland of tundra. Hige felt blood seeping out of a wound on his shoulder. A soft thud came from behind him. He turned his eyes staring at the female wolf. Blue. The black scared wolf in front of him stopped and turned. 'We'll catch up in a minute.' He said instantly going to Blue's side and lying down next to her.

Blue didn't had anything left to go on, and didn't need to say anything. Hige laid down next to her, and they waited.

* * *

Al

The first wolf that had begun twitching stopped. So Al sighed in relief; one less issue. Whoops, he thought too soon as another wolf began to twitch and struggle.

* * *

Kiba

It was the top of the mountain, and there was the black wolf. He was exhausted already, but he didn't feel it at all. Cheza was changing, it he had to do something. Something for the future. They began to fight, tearing at each other. Each attack was another attack that was aimed to kill the other. But Kiba didn't seem to be dealing as much damage as before.

Suddenly he, and everyone else in the cave awoke in panic.

Ed was shivering uncontrollably, his eyes shrunken in. Hige's shoulder twitched, as he and Blue nuzzled each other trying to calm each other down. Toboe was still, if his chest wasn't rising and falling softly, Kiba was sure he'd been dead. Tsume seemed to be checking on Toboe, occasionally shifting the younger wolf around. Otherwise Tsume was checking his body, for what, Kiba didn't know. Kiba then finally noticed that he was shaking as well. The only two who didn't seem affected were Cheza and Al.

'Al-' Kiba tested as he shifted to human form.

'I don't dream, or sleep for that matter.' Al stated. He pointed at his brother. 'Big brother started shaking first.' He stated. Then he pointed at Hige. 'Then he did. And then everyone else seemed to start shaking, so I couldn't tell.' Al stated. Kiba nodded.

Everyone else for the most part had shifted back to being human. They looked shaken still, but not as badly as before. Toboe seemed really out of it, but otherwise they were all still alive and awake. Cheza still slept through it all.

'I guess we're no one is in the mood to go back to sleep.' Hige said, forcing a smile. The room felt heavy with everyone's dreams or nightmares replaying in their minds.

'Might as well, get going.' Kiba murmured.

* * *

Resempool

'I demand you let us leave!' Winry said from her bed. Pride merely smiled. ' But you're at home, we're there to go?'

'Anywhere but here.' Winry replied icily.

'Well, I'm sorry I can't let you. But you can make this easier for the both of us and hand over that map you showed Colonel Mustang.' King Bradley grinned taking another step forward. Winry flinched, and slowly handed it over. He just had such an imposing look to him. Her mind screamed at her not to put up resistance.

'Thank you, .' he said exiting. Winry kept her face expressionless but cracked as soon as he left. What had she just done? 'Ed… Al…' she mumbled, burying her face in her pillow.

'Well gentlemen, do you remember our conversation from before?' Pride asked. 'The one about figuring out where the wolves are going?' said one officer. Pride nodded and unrolled the map.

'We now know where they're going.' He stated.


	16. Chapter 16

So with the map at hand, King Bradley made his battle plans laying out several platoons before the wolves would reach Central, all according to plan.

'Sir, why are we setting up only two platoons in the forest? Wouldn't it make more sense to set a majority of them in the forest?' an officer asked. King Bradley smiled. 'Because those wolves might have the Elric brothers with them. Won't want them caught up in the attacks.' It was said in such a tone that the officers couldn't tell, if he was concerned about their safety or if it was sarcasim. The officer merely forced a smile.

'Understood, sir.' He saluted confirming the plans to the other officers.

'Oh, before I forget.' Bradley said, as if the idea was suddenly dawning on him, 'I understand there was a storm last night, and that the soldiers couldn't be moved. Since the storm has passed, I would like the majority of the soldiers moved or moving by tonight.' He turned to address the frozen officers. 'That shouldn't be a problem right?'

'N-N-No, sir.' One man stuttered. King Bradley's smile returned. 'Good.'

* * *

'Damn, Central moves fast.' Roy remarked, looking over the dazed, confused, and slightly charred platoon he had just finished. It was the second platoon he had come across in his travels, and he was wondering exactly how many were stationed throughtout the way to Central.

On his borrowed horse, he drew a map he had brought out, and retraced the main path the wolves, and the Elric brothers were planning. Since they were a day ahead of him at a minimun, he had a lot of ground to cover in a single day. Not to meantion being faced with the task of finding them in the middle of the forest.

'And burning down the entire forest from here to Central probably isn't the best option…' he mumbled, trying to figure out a way to get slightly ahead of where he assumed the boys and wolves had made it. He sighed, and tucked the unmarked map into his brest pocket, and snapped the righs. His horse reared, but quickly landed and took off in a gallop forward.

* * *

'How much farther is it?' Al asked. Ed shrugged. 'Who knows? I haven't the slightest idea where we are, much less how far we've traveled, or how close we are to Central.' Ed replied.

'Brother!' Al remarked, Ed shrugged again taking his pace with Toboe as they walked through the forest. The wolves suddenly all shifted to human form.

'Good God! You could think to warn me!' Ed shouted. Tsume rolled his eyes, and glared back at Ed.

'And how do you propose we warn you? Maybe bite off your other arm?'Tsume said flatly, still glaring. Ed snorted in disgust, and glared back. Tsume turned his attention away from Ed, and faced forward.

'This is why I hate stupid munchkins.' Tsume mumbled.

'I AM NOT A PEA SIZED DWARF!' Ed shouted back. The wolves covered their ears, since he was so loud.

'Brother, Tsume didn't even say that he said-' Al stopped when he noticed, Ed giving him an odd look. 'You're right metal boy, I called your borther a stupid munchkin, but pea sized dwarf works just as well.' Tsume smirked. Ed's fist came up, shaking and unsteady.

'Why you-' Ed started.

'You wanna fight? Great.' Tsume said turning to him. 'I'm game.' The duo posed for battle only be restrained. Ed by Al, and Tsume by Toboe.

'Fighting won't get us anywhere.' Al said as Ed sware and strggled against him. Toboe was attempting to keep Tsume at bay.

'You can't take them out right now, Tsume.' Toboe said calmly, his hands up. Tsume growled. 'And just what do you know, brat? They aren't doing us any favors by following us around with their iron bodies.' Tsume snapped. Toboe flinched at Tsume's words, but heeld his ground waiting for Tsume to stop.

'I understand your frustration, but we can't-' 'What? Now you're siding with them? They aren't helping us in a single way! They're just more to keep track of and defend, and another mouth to feed!' Tsume shouted. Toboe's faced changed slightly.

'They're the ones who got us out of prison. Who opened up their home to us, figured out where we had to go, and how to get there!' Toboe shouted. 'And you're just giving them another reason to have us thrown back in jail you-, you-, you dumbass!'

The other woloves turned, completely surprised by Toboe's outburst. Tsume's expression went from anger to shock. The boy had sworn, and at him.

Toboe shook, his fist curled up, his whole body shaking, barely holding back the tears when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was heavier then most, so Toboe glanced up to see Ed standing beside him.

'Go ahead and let it out.' Ed said softly to him. Toboe nodded just enough for Ed to know, as the tears fell softly.

'I guess we should take some time out, and sort everything out. You have some questions you want to ask us, and we have some questions to ask you.' Ed said. Hige nodded.

'I think now would be a good time to stop. We're in a cool clearing, no sign of rain, and it's nice and shady here.' Hige stated sitting down. Kiba growled lowly.

This was not the time to sit around getting to know each other. Things like that could happen while they were moving. But he took a glance around and changed his mind. Toboe, and Tsume were both shaken up, or at least Toboe was. Hige was reclined against a tree in a position he probably wouldn't give up unless the forest was on fire. Blue seemed unaffected, but she still had a bit of recuperating to do. Tsume seemed frozen in place muscles tensed ready to punch someone or something, and Cheza, was… Cheza.

'Alright, we'll take a break.' Kiba said. Hige smirked. Ed and Al situated themselves in a loose half circle near Hige and Blue under the tree.

'So what do you want to know about us boy?'


	17. Chapter 17

'I want to know exactly what you are, and where you came from.' Ed replied, posing in a very similar position that Colonel Roy Mustang often did. The wolves all glanced at each other. 'Anything else?' asked Kiba.

'And I want to know exactly was Cheza is, too.' Ed added preparing himself to hear and comprehend all that was to be said. It was his job as a dog of the military to at least get his facts right. Kiba glanced at Cheza. She smiled at him, unaffected at what had been said.

'Alright, kid.' Tsume said agreeing to the demands for all of the wolves. 'If they won't tell you, I will, but first you've gotta answer my question first.' Tsume said, taking a long glance at the boys. The duo nodded without a glance at each other.

'Why are you helping us? It's certainly not because we're particularly nice people.' Tsume asked, keeping his eyes on them. Even though they'd only known each other for a short time, Ed and Al could tell, and knew Tsume was a good fighter. He also was not one to let his guard down or trust anyone. Even though he was sitting down, in a somewhat relaxed position, he still looked like he was ready for a fight.

'It's because we're looking for something called the philosopher's stone.' Ed started. Al nodded in agreement. 'It's a stone that will help magnify our powers in order to return our bodies to their original form. For me, that's to get my arm and leg back. For Al…' Ed drifted off pain painted on his face unabashed. 'For Al…'

'For me to get my entire body back.' Al finished for Ed. Blue and Hige exchanged glances, along with Toboe and Tsume.

'So you're not just hiding in that suit of armor for show.' Tsume said slowly. Al and Ed nodded. Tsume scoffed. 'Figures.' He muttered.

'So you knew?' Al asked, curiosity in his voice. The wolves nodded.

'It's not that we instantly knew, it's your smell. You don't smell completely human. You have a distinct smell of human and… something else.' Blue said. 'I think she means to say that you smell like a human mixed with something otherworldly, like part of you is here, and part of you isn't. The physical shell, your body, exists, just not here. Hence changing your smell.' Hige further explained.

'You sort of smell similar to Cheza, to us, if that helps.' Toboe added. Ed and Al nodded though not completely understanding the connection.

'Which brings me back to where you started. So you think by helping us you'll find this philosophers stone you're after? What makes you think we have it?' Tsume continued.

'Well, it's not that you have it or that you'll make it appear, exactly.' Ed started. 'It's more that you'll cause people who might have it to come forward.'

'So in simple terms, you're using us as bait.' Tsume frowned. Ed shrugged. 'If it floats your boat.' He said nonchalantly.

'Big brother!' Al snapped. 'You can't tell me that's all you honestly think of them as!' Ed shrugged again.

'When they're right, they're right Al.' Ed said simply, ready to move on. 'But that isn't right! They're people too!' Al defended.

'Actually…' Hige interfered. 'We're not exactly human.' Blue continued.

'You see…' Hige started.

'Me, Tsume, Blue, Hige and Toboe are wolves. Cheza is the moonflower that will lead us to paradise.' Kiba said bluntly. They all turned to stare at the calm blue eyed brunette. He scowled. 'What?'

'Can you repeat that?' Ed asked, confused. So Kiba did, and Ed got a grin on his face and a glint in his eye.

'Think it was written somewhere that a flower of the moon would come and take the two brothers of metal to the red stone of power. I think it's a folk tale.' Ed said. The wolves stared at him awed. Al smacked his brother on the head.

'I've read everything you've read, and there was no folk tale like that.' Al stated, superior in tone. The wolves visibly relaxed.

'But in all seriousness,' Ed started again. 'You guys are just wolves at the core? You only transform to look like humans to blend in with your current society?' Ed asked. The wolves nodded and relayed a handful of stories to the boys.

* * *

'Interesting, so you weren't altered with alchemy?' Ed asked. 'Of course not, wolves are born wolves.' Hige laughed. Blue nodded. 'Even a half-wolf like me was born to at least one wolf.' She added. Ed leaned back, resting on Al as he absorbed the information he had been given. All the evidence pointed towards them not being chimeras after all.

'Alright, so that clears you from being chimeras.' Ed said, returning back to sitting Indian style on the ground. 'But I have to tell you. We have things called chimeras here in Amstis. They're usually half human, and have animal. It varies by person, but you wolves appear and change similar to a chimera. Far warning that if there are any wolf chimeras they aren't your comrades.' Ed informed them in a serious tone.

'We figured so.' Toboe informed them, now relaxed. He still kept a bit of distance from Tsume, but it looked like he had calmed down.

'How?' Al asked. Toboe pointed to his nose. 'Our sense of smell, just like how we knew you were partly human.'

The brother nodded. If the wolves hadn't come from a different world and or dimension, they would have made amazing allies. There sense of smell seemed one hundred percent accurate.

'Okay, so I understand that Cheza's a moon flower.' Ed started shifting to his final question. 'But how come she has a human form? And you can't tell me she shifts into a flower on whim.' Ed stated.

The group of wolves looked to Kiba. Kiba straightened out his posture, and took a deep breath. Then he exhaled it slowly waiting until he completely out of breath. 'Cheza was originally a plant, a moonflower. A very rich man decided to have the last moon flower-' Kiba turned to look at Cheza, in a certain way. It wasn't one of affection, or lust, but a look of concern and protectiveness. 'He decided to have her changed into a person. This resulted in her being kept in a laboratory for a long time, while other scientists studied her in her dormant mode. Once Hige and I came, she awoke. It's takes the blood of a wolf to wake them. Before Hige or I could retrieve her, she was stolen away by a man named Darcia. Eventually, she escaped and we found her, and since then we've been following her towards paradise.' Kiba finished.

'So then how did you get here?' Ed asked. Tsume was about to but in, saying that Ed had already got the information he was after, but Toboe glanced at him. Silencing him instantly. Kiba sighed, looking haggard for a brief instant.

'I don't know. One minute we were all together, the next minute we woke up in a barren desert. At least, that's how I woke up.' Kiba said. The other chimed in agreeing. 'Although,' Kiba added, 'I did have a flash back in the fight, I was fighting a wolf with Darica's eye.'

Hige perked up. 'I had a dream like that too, except-' and from there the wolves began to chat with one another talking about the strange dream they had all had the night before. The stories, when told in the right order starting with Toboe, all seemed to fit together in a puzzle.

'Well, that's odd.' Kiba mused aloud. 'I wonder why it did that…'

Ed and Al glanced at each other. Al prodded Ed in the ribs. Ed groaned. Al forcefully shoved Ed in the ribs causing him to gasp slightly.

'I had a dream last night as well.' Ed coughed out. The wolves turned their attention back to him. 'I think you might be able to help me figure some things out, if you heard about it.

* * *

'So we end up in a fight with the seven deadly sins, and their father.' Tsume said bluntly at the end of Ed's description of his dream. Ed nodded. 'But they're not just named the seven deadly sins, they embody that sin as well. Sloth is lazy, but also extremely powerful. Envy can shape shift to any form she pleases. Lust is… attractive but extremely strong. Gluttony eats people.' Ed explained.

'What about Wrath, Pride, Greed, and his 'father' you spoke of.' Kiba asked. Ed nodded.

'Wrath is the only one who can age. He's also president Bradley.' Ed said. 'So you're working for a sin?' Tsume asked. Ed grimaced. 'Don't remind me.'

'Anyway, he usually uses a sword in his attacks. His son Selim Bradley, and is Pride's son. He controls shadows, and if he has enough power, he can even control your body.' Ed said. Al nodded speaking from experience.

'And Greed?' Blue asked. 'He's kinda on our side, since he's in our friend Lin's body.' Ed said.

'You mean the guy who captured me?' Toboe asked suddenly frightened. Ed nodded. 'No wonder he didn't smell right.' Toboe murmured, unconsciously curling up in a protective ball.

'So what about this father guy. You haven't talked about him much.' Hige said, after it all sank in. Ed frowned.

'I don't really know much about him except that he created the Holocumus, has a bizarre likeliness to my father, and that he's probably immortal too.' Ed said. Al nodded. 'He lives underground in Central. He's really the brains behind Wrath, and the others.' Al added.

'So that's what we're up against? A bunch of weird ass immortals?' Tsume asked. Ed and Al nodded vigorously.

'Tch.' Tsume tsked. 'I bet they're not nearly as bad as you think they are.'

'We don't know that yet Tsume.' Kiba said wisely. 'Since we haven't encountered them in battle we have no idea how strong they really are.' The other wolves agreed. Tsume just rolled his eyes.

Ed whistled. 'Okay, so now that I've had all my questions answered. What are yours?' he asked politely. The wolves glanced at each other.

'You know how to get to where we described to you.' Tsume stated slowly. The duo nodded.

'And you promise to take us there no military and unmilitary tricks alike?' Hige asked. Once again the boys nodded.

'And you promise that you won't reveal this information to anyone, at least until we've left this place?' Kiba asked. Once again the two nodded.

'Can't you two do anything besides nod?' Kiba asked. The two nodded. 'Well, then give us a verbal answer nitwits!' Tsume growled.

'Yes sir!' Ed and Al chimed.

'That's funny.' Came a familiar voice. 'I don't remember giving you orders.'

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the overdue update. I've been busy since school started, and I haven't had time to type properly. (Cutting my finger preparing food didn't help.) I'll not going to make anymore promising about updating, but I'll try to update this as best as I can, and as fast as I can. Please, please, please point out any spelling errors you see, and around what part they are. I uploaded this as soon as I finished it, so there's bound to be errors spellcheck didn't pick up. I'll also be rechecking all the past chapters in the next couple days so I'll be updating them as well.


	18. Chapter 18

The wolves instantly darted back all primed for a fight while Ed and Al sat quietly. A horse reared and snorted behind them. 'Whoa, calm down girl.' Came the voice again. The horse's hooves landed behind the boys, and the rider dismounted. Tsume snarled, and the rest growled. Ed turned around to see a familiar Colonel behind him.

'Hey colonel.' Ed said getting up. A wide smiled came across his face. The Colonel was busy calming the mare down and muttering to her, before he turned. 'Edward Elric.' Colonel said sternly.

'That's me.' Ed said. Buy then Al had gotten up as well to talk to the Colonel. The wolves relaxed slightly.

* * *

Where had he seen that face before? Kiba's brow furrowed as he tried to piece it all together. It wasn't in one of the towns they had stopped in. No, it was somewhere else… Somewhere with…

Blood.

'You.' Kiba said flatly. He pulled Cheza behind himself, and glared. It was him.

The man who had called the shots on their capture. The one he had failed to take down. The one who had them taken in prison and locked Kiba in the white walled room. It was all him.

'Ed, move away from him.' Kiba growled stepping forward lightly as the rest of the wolves moved in to make a tight circle around Cheza. Ed frowned.

'Why?' he asked. Roy had stiffened and given the reigns to Al. Kiba tensed, his body twitching, just waiting to change in anticipation to wolf form. ' Because I need to kill him.' Kiba said, taking another step closer.

'Kill him?' Al cried confused. 'But why?' He asked, gripping the reigns tightly. Kiba's face contorted, as his body angrily held his human form. Ed had paled. Kill him? Kiba needed to kill Roy? There was no reason except…

'Homunculi, Envy?' Ed asked as he slowly turned to face the person he thought was Roy. Kiba growled.

'I can't tell if it's him since there's that homunculi stink to him, as well as a bit of a human stench too.' Kiba growled fiercely. Tsume and the rest nodded.

'I can't tell if he's human either.' Hige added since he was the 'nose' of the group. Kiba nodded stiffly to acknowledge Hige's opinion on the matter. Ed glanced between the two confused as to what to do.

Was it really Roy? The horse wasn't shying away from him like they did to homunculi . Then again Envy was a master as transforming. But this really did seem like Colonel Roy Mustang. Then again where was Lt. Hawkeye? She rarely left his side, and then there was the whole wolf nose verses human nose thing. Ed tried to use his senses as well to determine if it was really Roy.

He looked like Roy. He talked like Roy. He acted like Roy, and even the mannerisms were like Roy. But how would Ed know? It was his perception verses the wolves, and animals' senses were far better then human.

'What do you think Al?' Ed asked quietly. Al seemed startled. 'What do I think about what?' Al asked back confused. Ed shook slightly.

'Do you think that's really Colonel Mustang or not?' Ed asked softly, trying to contain himself from crying out. It was taking everything he had not too. Al stared at who was supposedly the Colonel.

It looked like the Colonel. He seemed human enough… but without a human body he couldn't really use his sixth sense to see if it was really him. Al started to get confused too.

'I don't know brother.' Al said softly back. 'I can't tell. Can you?' He asked his older brother. Ed shook his head quickly in a no fashion.

'I don't know either.' Ed murmured.

'Hurry up and decide kid!' Tsume shouted. Ed snapped his head up. Tsume was glaring at him.

'Kiba's doing all he can not to kill this guy since we faced off with him before in the alley remember?' Tsume shouted. Ed did remember. It was amazing and horrifying to watch the humans turn into wolves so quickly. To attack with teeth in one second, and with fists in the next. It was something Ed would never forget. How could he forget the determination in Kiba's eyes as he tried to take him down for good? Ed started to shake even more violently.

'This isn't the time to lose yourself shorty!' Tsume shouted at him, even louder then before. Kiba was still facing the Colonel, or what they thought was the Colonel.

'Figure it out kid! Your supposed to be a boy genius and you can't even handle this decision? You're just a brat! A stupid short bug like brat whose got a swollen head filled with fanciful ideas on getting you and your brother's bodies back!' Tsume snapped at him.

Ed lowered his head. Tsume was right. He was short. He was a bug like kid with big ideas that wouldn't come true. Even since he'd become a state alchemist his pride had tripled. And now, when it mattered most, it was all too much to bear.

'Don't say that!' Al snapped back at Tsume. 'Big Brother knows if this Colonel is real or fake!' Al defended. Ed looked up near tears. Al. Al still believed in him. Tsume grinned, and Kiba began to shake again.

'Really now? Because all he looks like to me is a little punk whose about to cry.' Tsume taunted.

'Enough!' Kiba snapped drawing everyone's attention to him. His entire body was rippling with the energy to transform. It was amazing he had lasted this long. The forest grew silent around them.

'Ed.' Kiba said in a slightly softer tone. Ed looked at Kiba. 'Ed I need to know. Is this man your Colonel, or is he the enemy? I need your ruling.' Kiba said forcefully. 'If this man is your Colonel I won't attack. If he isn't I will show him no mercy.'

Ed shoulders began to sake even more as he brain began to rack itself for answers. Was it Roy? Or was it Envy? Envy or Roy? Which one was it? Everything pointed to Envy, but Ed still felt like it was Roy…

'I don't know…' Ed whispered after his mind went into melt down. There was nothing besides a feeling in gut his gut to prove that it wasn't Envy in disguise. Everything pointed to an imposter. Kiba growled in frustration.

'If you don't make up your mind in one minute, I'm going to attack him anyway.' Kiba stated.

Ed's mind was in shambles as he tried to piece everything together. Was it Roy? Was it? Was there something to prove that it was honestly him?

'Edward Elric…' Came the Colonel. Ed looked up at the supposed Colonel. 'Ed please, it's me.'

Ed's heart twisted again. IT looked so much like him… But…

'Times up.' Tsume said a faint smile on his face.


	19. Chapter 19

'Don't!' Suddenly came Al's voice as he rushed between the two. He managed to throw wolf Kiba back, while getting a back full of Roy, the real Roy's flames. Kiba let out a slight whimper from impact as his body collided into the ground and then into Hige's arms. Ed looked up, tears in his eyes.

What was wrong with him? He'd just stood there, and done nothing. Absolutely nothing for the wolves; what good was he to them now? Tsume was right after all. He was just another mouth to feed.

Kiba transformed back into human form a faint groaned as he rubbed his back. Toboe, Hige, and Blue murmured to him occasionally exchanging glances, and glancing back up at the humans. Tsume stood near Cheza, who was sitting against a tree, looking like she was catch up in a trance. Roy was apologizing to Al. Al was fretting about how he hoped he hadn't thrown Kiba too hard, and that Roy wasn't offended by their actions.

'No, no I understand.' Roy said simply, as he calmed his spooked horse down. 'If I where in your positions I wouldn't trust me either. Looking at how long I've been around Bradley it's no wonder I smell like him. Not to mention how the other Holcumus could have tailed me, or even crossed paths with me.' He gave off a little laugh deflecting Al's worries.

'No, I'm fine Al. I'm more worried about you. Did your armor melt at all? And is your seal still in tact?' Roy asked giving his horse another pat. She was calm now, still tied to the near by tree, grazing cautiously.

AL shrugged. 'I feel fine, since I can't really feel anything. And I think my seal is fine too.' He replied with a little calming laugh of his own. Roy nodded, and examined his back briefly. 'You look fine to me, but you should have your big brother check you out and fix you up as needed.' Roy said. Al nodded.

Roy turned, his expression turning solemn. Al turned to look as well, and froze. 'Big Brother?' Al asked. Ed shook his head, as the two came forward.

'Big brother are you alright?' Al asked, a hand touching Ed's shoulder.

'Full Metal were you somehow injured in this encounter?' Roy asked bluntly, and unfeeling.

Ed shook his head, his body still quaking with everything. Even now, he still couldn't pull himself together. Dammit. Dammit it all for happening now.

Then came a chilling crack, as Hige took his foot off Kiba's back and Toboe and Blue released his legs. Kiba rolled his shoulders, and slowly got up. His arms went forward once testing the sockets of where his shoulder met his torso, and then once back. Kiba sighed, and rolled his shoulder's back once more. The cold calculating look in his eye once more returning. 'What's the matter?' he asked gruffly.

'Are you alright?' Al asked suddenly panicked between Kiba and his brother. 'I didn't mean to throw you hard, just enough to get you away from the flames!' Al added quickly his attention still drifting between the two.

'I'm fine.' Kiba replied bluntly. He rubbed his left shoulder. 'You just threw me hard enough where my back popped, and my shoulder twisted. Nothing major.' He replied smoothly, as if it truly wasn't a big deal. Al sagged. 'I really didn't mean to hurt you…'

Hige laughed. 'Al was it? It takes a lot more then our backs cracking to get us down and out.' He jerked his head towards Kiba. 'It takes even more to get him down and out. He's been in a lot worse shape then that.' Kiba rolled his eyes.

'But how would you deal with alchemic flames?' Roy asked darkly. Kiba's expression hardened further. 'I'd dodge them, and then take you out at the throat.' Kiba fired back. Roy grinned darkly.

'You can't avoid my flames.' He said almost proudly. Kiba sneered and Roy sneered right back. 'Want to prove your claim?' Kiba said back. Once more Al intervened before it got out of hand.

'Guys, we're all together. It does no one any good to injury someone else. Let's just take it easy.' Al stated, flatly. Kiba let out a growl, and the two broke apart. Al turned back to his brother. 'Big Brother are you okay?' He asked again.

Ed merely shook his head. 'I'm useless…' he muttered. Al was shocked. 'You are not useless!' He announced. 'Who told you that?' He demanded. Ed's body shook. 'Al you don't understand…'

'Don't understand what? If you haven't noticed I've been traveling with you the entire time! There's only been the briefest of moments when I haven't been with you!' Al shouted at his brother. 'So please do inform me of what I've missed!'

'You don't understand!' Ed shouted, suddenly bringing himself to his feet. 'You don't understand how lost I felt! I couldn't do anything!' He shouted, eyes closed fists at his sides. He paused letting it all sink in, his back once again beginning to quiver.

'They-' He gestured to Kiba and Roy, 'Either one of them could have died, if you hadn't done that. And I couldn't even help aid figuring out whether Roy was Roy or not.' He said through gritted teeth. 'I just stood there dumbly trying to piece everything together.' He growled, his mental aguish coming through. 'I was completely useless as a person, as an alchemist, and as a-' He stopped suddenly. The wolves were looking at him curiously, wondering what Ed was going to say next. '- as an ally.'

It was quiet, as they all watched the red-coated boy calm down. Then Tsume snorted. 'All of this because of a little something I said.' He snorted again. 'If it weren't true, I'd almost be laughing.'

Al and Roy, and the rest of the wolves glared at him. Tsume shrugged. 'What's true is true. He's the one who gave into my words, proving the fact that he is useless.' Tsume stated.

'Tsume,' Toboe started. 'That's really harsh, even for you.' He said. Tsume rolled his neck in response. 'The world, even this one, is a harsh place kid. Those who can't even ignore a bit of criticism don't last very long. The midget's just upset because I'm right.' Tsume replied.

'Hey, hey, hey now,' Hige said interfering with the two. 'Let's not get divided within our own ranks now guys.' He said calmly. Tsume and Toboe broke their staring contest. Hige sighed.

'Let's just get moving. Physical activity will let us all loosen up a bit.' Hige started, 'We can sort things out as we go along.'

'This one senses it.' Cheza's voice came softly cutting through all the harsh words, and emotions raging around her. Her eyes were even more clear looking then before. The wolves and the alchemist stared at her. Blue approached her.

'Sense what?' She asked carefully. The group held it's breath.

Cheza pointed the direction they were aiming. 'That way. Very faint, but this one knows it's that way.'

The group collectively sighed, and a smile came to Hige's lips. 'Well, that just gives us more incentive to start out again, right?' he addressed the group. He was met with muttered replies and subdued reactions.

'Alright then, Kiba I think you should lead us off.' Hige said. Kiba nodded, and took Cheza's hand. In an instant he transformed, and Hige and Toboe helped Cheza onto his back. Then they all collective transformed, their wolf eyes watching the alchemists carefully.

Roy and Al looked at each other. Ed was still frazzled, and in no condition to walk it out. So with some maneuvering, they got him and Roy up onto the horse and began to follow. Kiba with Cheza on his back led, Tsume and Toboe flanking him on either side. Then came Hige and Blue, followed by Al, and the rear being brought up with Roy and Ed on the horse.

'Are you sure we should trust them?' Roy whispered to Al. Al nodded. 'They know where they need to go.' Al replied, in a distant tone. Roy's brows came together. 'We're just helping them get through the city.' Al finished. Roy gave a curt nod.

And the newly formed band of wolves and alchemists continued through the woods back towards Central City.

* * *

'The troops?'

'They're returning to Central as fast as we can move them sir.' An officer recited with a salute.

Bradley gave a nod. 'Good. How are the two mobile units fairing?' Bradley asked. The subordinate cringed.

'They were disabled knocked out sir.' He reported. One brow rose on Bradley's face.

'The damage?'

'Both patrols were knocked out. A map, one riding gear set, and a horse were stolen.' He reported. Bradley gave a nod.

'Any suspects?'

'None sir.'

'Any sightings?'

'No sir. None of the soldiers that have woken up recall his face.'

Bradley gave another nod. 'Make sure Central's border patrol is doubled, and in two day's time tripled. I want to be able to account for every man woman and child that gets in and out of the city.' Bradley said, a dominating tone to his voice. The solider nodded.

'Yes sir.'

* * *

AN: Sorry about the long wait. I've been swamped lately and haven't had much room to update. In fact I probably should've done... Nah, you guys are worth it. But please, if you haven't reviewed before, I'd love it if you would! It really pleases me to hear things from my reviewers, so that I can improve my story telling ability!


	20. Chapter 20

'Well, this wasn't in the plan.' Hige mumbled. Kiba shook his head. 'Nope, it was expected from the start.'

The entire border of Central was completely bogged down with soldiers. Every where, on foot, on horse, in platoons, hell there were even some soldiers' disguised as travelers; the area was crawling with the military, therefore venturing into the city was nearly impossible. Roy surveyed the land from his horse, making mental notes of the platoons and how many alchemists were stationed on patrol. Ed was standing, staring vacantly at the outside of Central.

'Fuck going through the city, let's just go around it.' Tsume spat, with a low growl. Ed shook his head. 'No good. The surrounding towns are probably being patrolled too. There aren't many ways to go around the city anyway.' He said in a monotone voice. Tsume's hand gripped into a fist. 'Then, let's just go through the forest like we have been.' Tsume countered. Ed shook his head again.

'No good either. The forest ends shortly before the city begins. There's no cover, only open fields.' Ed stated, still monotone. Al looked at his brother, still worried to death over his actions. Something was wrong with his big brother, and he desperately wanted to know what it was. Before he could ask however, Roy began.

'I have a plan if you'd care to hear me out.' Roy said. Kiba turned with a glare, followed by the rest of the pack. He crossed his arms, and locked his blue eyes with Roy's. 'I'm listening.' He said flatly.

* * *

'You,' Roy pointed to Blue, 'You,' Roy pointed at Tsume, 'and-' he drew the last part out, 'her.' He pointed at Cheza. 'You three could get some ragged clothes, and pose as isbalan refugees. There's bound to be someone in the crowd looking to help the refugees in, you just have to look carefully. Plus you three are the most eligible Isbalan look-a-likes. You two with your skin, and her with her eyes. If anyone asks, you say you're half Isbalan.' Roy stated. Kiba gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

'Then you, you, and you.' Roy pointed at Toboe, Hige then Kiba, 'could get some clothes to better blend in with the crowd, and pass as brothers' returning home from a trip to the country side.' Roy finished. Toboe and Hige exchanged a small look, and Tsume grunted a sly grin playing on his face. Kiba rolled his head.

'Then Al, Ed and I will return to headquarters, once all of you make it in. Once inside, we should all meet up at a designated area, then proceed in the same fashion, to exit the city the next morning.' Roy finished.

Hige nodded, pretending to contemplate what Roy had just said, while the rest of the pack like the idea sink in. They had already split up before, with less then expected results; they didn't particularly like the plan. Kiba nodded his head; eyes closed, and then lifted his head. 'Alright, say we go with this plan.' He started, his eyes dead serious. Roy gave a nod.

'Where would we meet up exactly?' Kiba asked. Roy gave a thin grin. 'We'd meet at my mother's bar.' He said. Kiba's eyes narrowed. 'Is your mother's 'bar' an easy to find, or hard to find place?'

'It's easy to find if you're looking for it, hard to find if you're not.'

Kiba nodded again. 'Okay.' He stated, as he got himself up. 'Let's go.'

* * *

'Dammit. How the hell are we suppose to find our way in? Stupid human traitor.' Tsume muttered under his breath as he tugged Cheza along, and kept his other eye locked on the easily disappearing and reappearing Blue. They had managed to convince some travelers to give them their worse clothes, and from what the crowd looked like, they blended in pretty well. A solider on his horse came by, and Tsume turned to Cheza whose head was facing the sky revealing her pink hair and red eyes.

With a tug Tsume pulled her in, and forced her head and hood down. She gave a small 'ohhph' noise, and Blue gave a small twist of her head to the side, and swiftly disappeared again. Tsume kept his head low, and walked towards the main gate, with Cheza obediently at his side. The officer passed without giving them a second glance. Once he was gone, Blue reappeared at Tsume's side, and quickly took his arm.

She led his furiously towards a seemingly impassive wall, and muttered 'Play along' before a red eyed man appeared from nowhere.

'I see you managed to find your husband and daughter.'

* * *

'And you expect me to believe that?' The soldier asked, as he gruffly stared at the three young men he had pulled aside. None of them even remotely looked related, and their story was pretty shaky. 'Well it is the truth after all.' Hige grinned broadly.

Somehow they had managed to get themselves pulled aside for question, in the giant throng of people. So far, it was wasn't going so well. Toboe fought hard to keep himself from shaking, and Kiba continued to stare straight on at the officer, his lips in a fine line. Hige was the negotiator.

'Well…' The officer said casually. Then proceeded to stare down Kiba. 'I don't like the look in your eyes. Any of your eyes.' He turned again to stare at Kiba, whose expression hadn't changed. Hige gave a nervous laugh. He went over to Toboe, and gave him a slap on the back.

'Ya see officer,' He motioned the officer closer. 'My brother here, has to go to the bathroom quit badly. That's why he's shaken' in his boots! And my dear eldest brother,' He looped his arm over Kiba's shoulder. 'He just got in a fight with his girlfriend. That's why he demanded we come home to Central.' The officer gave them another disapproving glance before; his expression softened just a touch.

'I see. Carry on.' The officer barked, as he walked away. Hige smiled and waved, until the officer disappeared from sight. Then he scoffed at the two, and crossed his arms childishly. 'You two could've chimed in at any time, really.' Hige pouted. Kiba shrugged, and started for the gate, Toboe quickly bolting to catch up. Hige sighed, and put his hands behind his head casually as they once again disappeared into the thicket of crowd.

* * *

A soft knock came on the door of Ed's room in Central. Roy opened it after a second or two. 'It's time to meet up you two.' He announced. Al and Ed nodded. A small grin finally coming back across Ed's face. 'We'll meet you outside in a second, Roy.' He said in his usual tone. Roy cast a small glance at Al, but only nodded.

* * *

_'Big Brother, just tell me!' Al cried following Ed to his prepared room. Ed stopped in the doorway, and then slowly turned to face his younger brother, holding the doorframe._

_'No Al, it's none of your business.' Ed stated, closing the door shut. Al stared at the door in semi-awe. Just what was eating away at his brother?_

_'Ed, open the door.' Al said slowly. All his demand was met with was a fizz from alchemy, and more silence. 'Big brother I'm breaking down the door.' He stated after a moment. More silence._

_Then with an abrupt slam of his palms, the door combusted, and was left with a giant hole in the wall. Ed stared at him blankly. Al walked over and grabbed his brother by his shirt. 'Ed, stop messing around and just tell me what's wrong. The way your acting isn't mature, it's childish.' Al demanded. Ed shook his head. Al sighed and put his brother down. Then he took a seat on the perfectly made bed, and sighed._

_Ed couldn't hold it anymore, and finally let it all out at once. He had felt so utterly useless to the wolves so far. Nothing had gone right, and not being able to tell if it was Roy or not had killed him on the inside. Not to mention all his building insecurities had at the time, decided to come forward and make his question his judgment even more then he should have. And all these emotions trickled back to the core of his pain. Losing his mother, losing an arm and a leg, and lastly nearly losing Al.

* * *

_

'Ready to go Al?' Ed asked, tugging on another glove. Al gave a firm nod.

* * *

_'Ed it's all right. I'm as much to blame for all this as you are. I haven't helped much either.' Al said, softly._

_'But that's not-' Al shushed him. 'It's not the point. Right now, we need to focus on the task at hand. We can't get out bodies back, and mom's soul right now. We need to focus on what we can do, which is help the wolves.' Al said firmly. 'Then once, we're sure the wolves are back in their own world, then we'll start looking for ways to get our bodies back.'_

_Ed nodded. 'You're right Al.' Al gave a small nod. 'We'll focus on helping the wolves now.' Ed said, more to himself then anyone else.

* * *

_

'We'll you three sure took your sweet time.' Tsume growled as the alchemists entered the bar. The barista, an aged woman glared at Roy. 'Roy, you better get this business done quick, and I mean it. These people don't seem like anything other then a bad thing.' She said, polishing a shot glass. Then she turned sweetly to Toboe, who was drinking milk, and Cheza who was staring at her water. 'Well, expect these two. They seem sweet.' She remarked kindly. Then she turned back to the rest of them. 'The rest of these people need to go. They're bad for business.' She barked. Roy chuckled, and produced a bouquet to her.

'For your troubles then.' He said politely. She scoffed at the offering, but took it and disappeared to the back of the place.

Roy sat down at table in the last spot available, facing all the others. 'So I take it everyone made it in okay.' Roy said with a sigh of relief. 'If you call playing house okay, then yeah.' Tsume growled, banging his can on the table. Hige laughed, as the alchemists shared confused looks.

'Tsume had to play daddy, with Blue and Cheza in order to get them in.' He informed them. Tsume growled, as his grip tightened on the can. 'Shut the fuck up, porky.' He muttered, downing the rest of his drink. 'Never speak of it again.'

Roy and the alchemists chuckled, then returned to business. 'Well, besides that I saw you three got into it with an officer?' Roy asked Kiba. Kiba shrugged. 'It wasn't much. He just did a random interrogation or something. Hige handled it.' Kiba said disinterested. 'So are we leaving tonight or what?' Tsume asked cutting in.

'I think we should take the opportunity to get a good night's sleep in, on decent beds for once.' Hige said. Toboe nodded. 'Forget the beds, let's just go. The sooner we leave the sooner we get home.' Tsume countered.

'To what home? A desolate landscape of snow? I'd rather stay here for a bit and enjoy the warm beds, and food.' Hige snapped back.

'Shut up, I thought you were all for going to paradise.' Tsume said, 'Unless, you decide to betray us again.' He sneered at the end. Hige's face twisted and contorted.

'I told you, that I had no idea that I even remotely being watched. I didn't betray you guys!' Hige shouted, slamming his hands on the table.

'Calm down everyone, calm down.' Al said standing up, putting himself between the stand offing wolves. Hige broke his stare from Tsume, and they both sat down.

'How many vote to stay here for a night and recover?' Al asked. All hands shot up besides Tsume's, Kiba's and Cheza's. Tsume didn't raise his hand because he just wanted to go. Kiba didn't move because of his disinterest, and Cheza because she didn't seem to have a clue what was going on. Tsume twitched then muttered under his breath.

'Alright, the majority votes to stay here for the night and get some food in our bellies.' Al stated sitting back down. 'We'll meet here tomorrow, and then begin our exit.' Ed finished, gaining several nods. Tsume pushed his chair out, and began to exit.

'Whatever.' He growled as he exited. 'We'll be back here tomorrow.' Blue said taking Cheza with her, as they disappeared into the night. Hige, Toboe, and Kiba got up.

'Where are you three staying?' Ed asked. Toboe smiled. 'A nice lady and her daughter invited us to stay with them.' Toboe said. Hige gave a nod. 'She looked a little lonely, and there doesn't seem to be a dad in the picture.' Then they two disappeared down the street.

Roy got up, and pulled on his coat. 'We'd better return to headquarters then. You two need a ride back?' Roy asked. Ed nodded, with Al mimicking him.

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry for the delay in updates. School has been insane with homework, projects, drama, etc. (Excuses, excuses) But since this week seems to be pretty insane, my logic told me now would be a prefectly good time to update, so I did. I hope to get another chapter out soon, since this one is so filler-ish, but then again... nah I'll let you guys figure it out.


	21. Chapter 21

'Well this is pleasant.' Tsume growled. Blue elbowed him. 'Stop complaining already. All you've done since we've gotten here is complain about how long it's taking to leave, and now we're finally leaving and you're complaining again.' Blue remarked as she held Cheza's wrist. Their guide stopped checking the intersection of the sewer before urging them forward. The duo nodded and continued to follow him loosely.

Tsume's lips curled into a growl-like mode, as he pushed forward the heels of his shoes clicking and letting out large echoes. 'I've felt sick ever since we came here.' He muttered. Blue raced to catch up with him. 'And being in these sewers isn't helping.'

'Umm Roy?' Ed said looking at the paper then at the house. Roy kept staring at the building. 'Yes Ed?' he replied back. 'Isn't this Hughes' house?' Al asked, as the trio stared. Roy gave a nod. 'Yeah, yeah it is.' Roy replied. Just then the door burst open to reveal a little girl, a large looking brown dog with bangles and two brunettes.

A woman followed the two guys, a towel in her hands as she watched the little girl and the dog. The girl fell right on her face, and the dog put on the brakes. She managed to turn herself around, and rub the dirty off her face, a displeased look following. The dog, with gold bangles around one of its legs, came up slowly and watched her carefully with brown eyes. The girl gave a small strained smile. The large dog gave her dirty cheek a lick.

The little girl turned and her face lit up instantly. 'Big brother Ed! Big Brother Al!' she shouted cheerfully, as she ran off to greet them. The large brown dog following her. Ed and Al smiled. 'Elicia, hey!' Ed waved as he caught her in a hug. Al joined as she giggled along. Ed let her down, and looked at the dog. It was definitely Toboe.

'That's a nice puppy you got there, Elicia.' Ed grinned. Elicia giggled delighted at the remark. 'He's a doggie, Ed, not a puppy!' she stated. He grinned sheepishly at her. 'My mistake then.' He said. 'Is he friendly?'

'I'll say he is.' Gracia said walking up Hige and Kiba following her. 'When I said I would take these boys in I didn't say I was taking in a dog too. He practically tackled me to the ground and killed me with the licking when I said he could stay too.'

To that, Toboe licked her hand. Roy closed his watch. 'Gentlemen,' he said looking at everyone, and pausing at Toboe. 'We need to be on our way shortly.' He turned to Gracia. 'I apologize for not being able to stay longer.' He stated with a bow. Gracia gave a muted laugh at Roy's bow.

'Still as formal as ever Colonel Mustang.' She remarked to no one. 'It's really alright though, I assume it has to do with work?' she asked slightly. Roy gave a nod. 'We're investigating a strange occurrence that happened about a week ago.' Roy said. He gave a sly smile. 'But you're not suppose to know that.' He added. She gave a knowing nod, before turning to Hige and Kiba.

'So I guess I can't get you two to sell me your dog…' she said jokingly as she watched the Elric brothers, Elicia, and the large dog romp about the yard. Hige and Kiba let out friendly laughs. 'Nope, sorry, he isn't for sale.' Hige remarked pleasantly. Kiba gave a roll of his neck. 'He may seem like a good idea now, but he's a specially breed that keeps growing most of his life, he'll grow even bigger and eat even more.' Kiba stated, matter of factly. Gracia let out a laugh.

'Can't be having that, now,' she remarked. Roy waved to the boys telling them it was time to go. Ed and Al said their goodbyes to Elicia, and started walking towards the truck. Kiba and Hige headed for it as well. Toboe stayed by Elicia.

'Your dog hasn't moved.' Gracia mentioned to Kiba. Kiba gave a slim smile. 'Give him a minute. He'll come.' Kiba said sitting at the back opening of the truck. He opened his lips slightly, and gave a silent to human ears whistle. Toboe turned his attention to Kiba, then got up and looked at Elicia. His head drooped as he gave her one final lick, before bounding faster then he ever and in front of them to the back of the truck. Without braking stride he leapt into the back. Gracia and Elicia stood and sat stunned by the dog's speed.

Roy gave another wave from the truck. 'You can expect another visit, when we return from business.' Roy said, a small smile. Gracia nodded as she and her daughter watched the truck disappear.

* * *

'So that's why you're late? The kid fell in love with a toddler?' Tsume scoffed as they began their trek back towards where they had come.

'I didn't fall in love with her! I just really liked playing with her!' Toboe whined. Kiba sighed, ten minutes since they met up and already he knew it was going to be a long trip. The two began to argue like brothers as Hige got caught up on what happened with Blue.

'Wow…' he said after a long whistle. 'Must've been mentally scarring to have to deal with Tsume for twenty-four hours without really anyone else around.' He mused. He felt a thick hand land on his shoulder. As a hot breeze of air crossed against his ear. 'What was that, porky?' Tsume asked quietly.

'Nothing! Nothing! I swear!' Hige remarked instantly on the defensive, and posing in fear. Tsume stared at him, with a piercing look. ' Alright then.' He replied, as he fell back a few paces, Toboe following him.

'That scene seems familiar.' Roy remarked. Ed's face elongated. 'Reminds me of whenever Lt. Armstrong sneaks up on us.' Ed replied. Roy gave a laugh. 'He certainly does have a large somewhat menacing presence when he gets serious.' Roy said easily. He turned to Kiba.

'How much farther do you think it is?' he asked. Kiba looked around and looked up at the sky.

'Hard to say, a traveler in a cart picked us up. It's hard to judge distance from the cart and otherwise. Having my head smashed in to a few things doesn't help.' Kiba replied. Roy, and the brothers exchanged strained looks.

'This one knows where it is. This one knows we are going the right way, its presence grows closer.' Cheza said instantly. Kiba looked to her in a caring way, and retook her hand. She stared at his hand, holding hers.

'So… umm…' Ed started to say. 'Yes?' Kiba replied. Ed shifted around rolling his neck, and cracking his knuckles. 'Yeah… don't take this the wrong way, but umm… are you and Cheza a couple or something?' Ed asked, his eyes brimming with curiosity.

Al stared at his brother. He had been wondering the same thing this entire time. No wonder they were brothers. Kiba stared at him blankly. Ed had closed his eyes, and managed to keep walking, only to open on cautiously. Roy kept a straight face through it all. Oh how innocently stupid youth was at times.

'I-'

'Nope, Kiba would never admit such a thing.' Hige said slinging an arm across Ed's shoulders. ' He merely dotes on Cheza because she's going to lead us all to paradise.' Hige informed the brothers, and Roy for that matter.

'You guys keep mentioning paradise, what's it suppose to be like?' Al asked. Hige thought on it.

'Well paradise is where every wolf no matter how mixed and muddled in blood, wants to go.' Kiba said, as the separate groups came together into one clump, Kiba and Cheza at the center. 'It's beautiful. There's perfect weather for a wolf, and tons of game to hunt. The prey is succulent and in an endless supply. The landscape is unscarred by humans, so it's all natural. The scent of moonflower is everywhere, yet it doesn't obscure the other scents of paradise. No wolf is ever killed by a human. It's just… perfect.' Kiba explained.

'So it's basically wolf heaven.' Ed stated flatly. The wolves collectively glared at him. He flinched slightly.

'No.' Kiba said flatly, his blue eyes burning away at Ed's person. 'Paradise, is much better then that. You live there, you don't have to die to get there.' He stated. 'And there's no stupid humans to make uneducated comments.' He sneered. Ed sneered back.

'Still sounds like wolf heaven.' Ed stated, with a glare and sneer back.

'Cut it out you two.' Roy stated, at the same time as Tsume. The two 'mature' ones looked at each other slightly shocked, then quickly looked away.

* * *

'How much longer? The heat is unbearable.' Hige said pulling at the collar of his hoodie. 'Who knows, Cheza will st-'

Cheza stopped Kiba. She was staring at the ground before her with an odd amount of intensity. The group gathered around her to look at the single footprint. It didn't look human.

'What do you think made it?' Blue asked. Tsume rolled his neck and kept walking. 'Just some animal print, so what? We can take it.' He said simply.

'I don't think an animal made this.' Al stated. He looked to Ed, who nodded at him. 'This looks like Envy.' Ed said.

'What that freak that you thought this guy was?' Tsume said pointing at Roy with his thumb. 'Whatever, you were wrong once, your probably wrong again Mr. indecisive.' Tsume said.

'I was under pressure then!' Ed stated indignantly. Tsume shrugged. 'Who said you weren't under pressure now?' he stated, staring intently at the twerp.

Ed twitched. 'This time I'm sure of it!' Ed shouted. Tsume smirked.

'Oh really? This coming from someone who can barely do anything without his dear little brother by his side backing him up, you're pathetic shrimp.' Tsume growled. Ed slightly fumed. 'I don't even know why the hell we still have to tow you around.' Tsume added. 'You're just a little dead weight.'

'Did you just call me little?' Ed asked. Tsume smirked set in.

'What are you deaf too? Yeah, you're a _little_ dead weight.' Tsume restated. Ed instantly transmuted his arm into a blade and swung at Tsume. It clipped a hair off of Tsume's head.

That was more then enough reason for Tsume to transform and counter attack.

'Guys!' Toboe said desperately his voice giving a sad crack. 'Hey, hey, hey let's not in fight.' Hige added trying to step between them. Tsume leapt over him only to land on Ed, who guarded and threw him off easily. Hige then went back quickly to where the rest of the group watched. He looked at Kiba and Roy.

'Why aren't you doing anything about this?' he asked both of them. The two in command kept silent for a bit.

'It was doomed to happen anyway.' Kiba remarked. Roy gave a nod. 'I agree. Based on past interactions, a physical fight was bound to happen between Ed and Tsume eventually.' Roy stated as he watched Ed try striking back, with touches of success.

'We might as well let them fight it out now, rather then later when we're trying to go back.' Kiba stated.

'Right now it is highly doubtful that anyone would bother us out here, so it's very safe for them to fight.' Roy added.

'We just have to make sure they don't break bones or anything.' Kiba stated as Ed stomped on one of Tsume's legs.

'I doubt you'll have to worry; Ed is very capable of defending himself. Roy said. Kiba gave a nod. 'As is Tsume.' He countered. And for a split second the flame of their previous fights came back between Roy and Kiba, but it was quickly extinguished as Ed started to resort to alchemy to make a shield.

They let the fight go on for a bit longer, and without a single exchange both Kiba and Roy split the fighters up.

'I'm not done with him yet! Give me another minute to kill him, and we'll have wolf meat for dinner!' Ed shouted. Tsume growled.

'Like hell that'd happen kid! You're too fucking small to ever kill me! I've got the physical advantage!' Tsume shouted transforming back into his human form.

'That's enough, Ed.' Roy said. 'There's no point in causing real harm to our current allies.' He kept Ed in the current chokehold until his stopped struggling.

'Tsume, get a clue. They're helping us. Don't shoot yourself in the foot and loose your ability to fight in case a real enemy appears.' Kiba said pushing him back onto the ground. 'By acting like this, you're making all of us look bad. I don't really care about your personal issues, but if you make look bad I've got a problem.' Kiba stated flatly.

'Like I want to be compared to you!' Tsume snapped. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Toboe.

'I don't like it either.' Toboe stated. 'But that's the way our minds, and theirs work. We compare like things.' He said softly. The tension in Tsume's shoulders lessened as they went down.

'Whatever, kid. ' He snapped pulling his shoulder away from Toboe's hand. Kiba turned his attention to the alchemists. Ed already seemed pretty much calm.

'I doubt we'll get them to shake hands, and apologize but we can probably get them to at least verbally agree not to physically fight each other anymore.' Roy said to Kiba. Kiba nodded. 'You hear that Tsume?'

'Yeah, yeah, I won't fight the midget anymore.' He said.

'What'd you just call me?' Ed shouted his ears perking up.

'Don't even start Edward.' Roy stated flatly. 'My orders to resist physically confrontation.' Edward's face twitched, but he agreed.

'So it's all settled. Good.' Hige smiled. 'Let's get back to walking, ladies and gentlemen.' He said pointing towards where they were supposedly going. Blue agreed. The rest of the group started, only to realize Cheza had yet to move.

Her eyes were still locked on the footprint.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm back! Finally an update for my best story in my opinion! Sorry for the long wait, I meant to update sooner, an blah blah blah excuses, excuses. But now I've figured out the ending for the story and how I'm going to get there, so expect the action to pick up~ Also, I'm no longer getting notifications that I updated my stories, or even that I got reviews for them, so if I'm slow on the response to your review, I apologise.


	22. Chapter 22

'This one thinks we should stay back.' Cheza stated, as her head slowly tilted upwards to look at the others. 'This one…' She paused, as everyone watched her cautiously. Kiba and the wolves were on high alert as were the alchemists. 'This one thinks something bad is near paradise.' She finished in a whisper. The group looked to one another, as Kiba put his arm over her shoulder protectively.

'I think we'll be able to handle anything 'bad' that might be over there.' Roy stated. 'I've only witnessed a few of your fights, but with you skills,' He gestured to the wolves, 'Along with our skills,' He gestured to himself, Ed and Al, 'and have come to the conclusion that we'd have a very high percentile in defeating a variety of enemies.'

'I think maybe we should turn back.' Blue spoke up. Everyone turned to face her. 'Cheza… she's got unusual senses since she's a human moonflower and all. Looking back at our past mistakes, I think maybe we should heed her warning.' Blue finished. Hige nodded in agreement. 'I agree with Blue.' He smiled to her, and putting a protective arm over her shoulders as well.

Tsume rolled his eyes. 'She could be saying something completely false and you'd still agree with it.' He muttered. Hige growled at him. Tsume smirked, and gestured with his hand to come at him. 'Come on porky, let's go.' He prodded. Hige growled again.

'Let's not.' Toboe said coming between the closer drifting males. 'Let's just decide what we're going to do.' Toboe said attempting to diffuse the situation.

'I say we get you guys there already.' Ed stated. 'I mean where are you going to stay otherwise? You're not living with us that's for sure.' Ed laughed.

'And who dragged us to his rag tag town again?' Tsume said. Ed fumed. 'What did you just say about our hometown?' Ed asked, getting right under Tsume's nose. Tsume smirked.

'Oh I just called it rag tag but let me correct myself.' Tsume stated. Ed smiled, and crossed his arms proud.

'And which shorty dragged us to his small rag tag town again?' Tsume said turning away. Ed snapped. 'I'll teach you how to-' but before the duo could pick up their brawl, Colonel Mustang punched Ed in the face caused Ed to fly back in a slow mo an arc of blood flying free from his nose. Kiba socked Tsume in the gut, hard apparently since Tsume went down, with a bit of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Al and the rest watched as spectators.

The Colonel walked over, and picked Ed up by his hood, and shirt. 'We had a verbal agreement Edward.' Mustang stated solemn. Ed muttered, 'I know.' Colonel Mustang's eyes narrowed. 'Don't let it happen again.'

'For once in your life would you consider the rest of us before brawling like an idiot.' Kiba growled at Tsume. 'You could really use to just shut the hell up.' Kiba said. 'Unless you'd like to actually contribute something intelligent to the conversation at hand.'

Tsume smirked. 'Bite me, pretty boy, bite me.' He said. In an instant Kiba transformed and bit Tsume on his shoulder, enough to where a bone crunched slightly. Then he transformed back, his lips stained red. Casually he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. 'Don't provoke me into doing something this barbaric again.' He stated, turning away.

'Get up. We're going on anyway.' Kiba said to everyone.

'But what about what Cheza said?' Al asked, helping his brother up. Toboe nodded in agreement. ' Yeah, Blue and Al have a point Kiba.' Hige said. Kiba turned and stared a cold stare at them.

'We've come this far; let's just keep going. If we're lucky fighting of these 'bad' things will wear Tsume down far enough where he won't keep picking fights with everyone.' Kiba stated coming to Cheza. Ed gave a laugh. 'If only we're that lucky.' Ed said.

'You're not to far behind him Edward.' Roy said, following Kiba.

Kiba kneeled down before Cheza, and held out his hand. 'Come, lead us back to paradise.' Kiba asked softly. Cheza shrank back from Kiba, her frail frame shaking. She shook her head no, and took a step back. Kiba got up his hand still extended to her, his face not calm and collected like it usually was. His eyes were hurt; his expression was hurt like he was a puppy that had just been kicked.

Cheza stared at his hand her eyes wide, but not afraid. It was hard to identify Cheza's emotions, but this was as close to shocked, as she would ever get. She shifted forward slightly, about to take a tentive step towards him, towards his hand. Something in her mind caused her to stop, and glance up towards the sky, contemplating what she must do.

Kiba kept his hand extended, but slowly his hand was drifting downwards. He turned slightly in order to face his friends, and suddenly felt a small soft like the petals of a flower hand slip into his own. He looked back, a nervous if not stoic Cheza behind him. He gave her a small, but supportive smile as the group headed forward.

* * *

'They're late.'

'Oh grow some patience would you?'

'How about… no.'

'I'll teach you not to disrespect your elders…'

'So you're admitting your old?'

'I'm not-'

'I'm hungry!'

'SHUT UP. You'll eat LATER.'

'You're fat enough already without eating those wolves.'

'- he's being mean!'

'Shut up -, just wait for the wolves and eat them.'

'Heh.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Never knew you'd ever be mean to -, -.'

'Even I only have so much patience for him, -.'

The trio then looked over to see three more figures appear. One in a military uniform, the other one being led by a chain held by the first the last attached to the side of Wrath.

'You look so scary Wrath.' Envy remarked in mock fear. 'Not.' Envy finished, with a smirk. Wrath ignored him.

'Really Wrath is it necessary to bring Sloth on a chain?' Lust remarked casually. 'It seems unnecessary.'

'You know how Sloth is.' Wrath remarked. Pride frowned. 'Or is all that Lust gone and made you stupid?' Pride smirked. Lust's face contorted to anger. 'Don't make me sick Gluttony on you Pride.' Lust twitched. Pride rolled his eyes.

'Like Gluttony could touch me the fat oaf couldn't touch me if I walked.' Pride sneered. Lust's lips curled into a sinister smile. 'Care to test that?' she asked, anticipating his reaction. 'I think we all know who'll win.' Pride sneered.

'Go on Gluttony, you're hungry right?' Lust said. Gluttony smiled widely as his tongue revealed it's mark. 'Time to eat.~'

* * *

'I'm hungry.' Hige whined. 'Shut it porky we're all hungry here.' Tsume barked. Hige pouted at him, sighed and continued their trek. 'How much longer?' Hige continued to beg.

'I don't think it's too much farther.' Kiba remarked. 'We've actually made good time today.' Colonel Mustang remarked. Kiba gave a nod in acknowledgement. 'I think it'll be another day or so before we get there.' Kiba continued.

'Another day? What about food?' Hige proclaimed, as his stomach started to talk aloud. 'You're wolves right?' Ed asked. Hige rolled his eyes. 'Are you blind? Yeah we're wolves.' Hige commented. Ed shrugged. 'Most dessert life comes out at night, hunt then.' Ed said easily. Al nodded. 'A lot of larger prey comes out at midnight too.' Al added proud of how scholarly his big brother was.

'But nighttime is so far away!' Hige whined louder. 'Not to mention midnight.' He added to his growing whining. 'Hige just stop.' Toboe finally but in. Toboe was a few paces behind the group as a whole. 'You're only making us and yourself hungrier' Toboe said, jogging to catch up the tail end of the group.

'Are you okay Toboe?' Blue asked. She, and the entire group had noticed how much he had fallen behind. It was also around the tenth time that he had to jog to catch up with the group in the past hour or so. Toboe nodded, his tongue out as he panted. 'I'm fine, I think I'm just a little dehydrated is all.' Toboe managed to get out. He forced a smile. 'Really guys I'm fine.' He said.

Kiba turned to Cheza. Her hands had dried out over the course of their day's travels. 'Are you alright Cheza?' he asked. She gave a small nod. 'This one is fine.' She mumbled, re-gripping Kiba's hand. He stared at her hand, and put his free hand on her forehead. It felt normal; then again Cheza wasn't a normal human. 'This one is fine.' Cheza repeated softly. Kiba's brows came together. This was out of the ordinary.

'How much water do we have?' he asked. The wolves shrugged. 'None?' Hige said with a shrug.

'We have one canteen left.' Ed said showing a smaller then a canteen bottle from his coat. 'Next cactus we should bust it open and drink.' Tsume suggested. Kiba nodded. 'Good idea.'

Tsume turned away from the group to look at the kid, only to find him face down in the dust. 'Shit.' Tsume growled loudly, catching everyone attention. Tsume flipped the kid over, and took his pulse. Steady, but not all that great, Toboe's body was heating up, and his tongue was swollen. 'I need water.' Tsume demanded, holding out his calloused hand for the canteen. Ed instantly handed it over as the group huddled around Toboe.

Tsume dipped his fingers in and made small lines on Toboe's face. Toboe's face twitched recognizing the cool water on it. Tsume made a small cup with his hand and poured a little into Toboe's mouth. The swelling didn't noticeably change, but it looked less irritated.

'Put paradise on hold, we need to regroup.' Tsume growled. Kiba nodded. 'Does anyone remember seeing any cacti nearby?' Kiba asked. Everyone shrugged.

'We could try transmuting some.' Ed suggested. Al nodded eagerly. ' Then we can store in Al here.' Ed said tapping on Al's iron chest.

'Big Brother! I'll rust!' Al exclaimed shocked at his brother's idea. Ed smiled. 'Would I let you rust, Al?' Ed asked. Al shook his head no. 'That's right I wouldn't. It would be just for a short while until the wolves get back to their world. Then I'd transmute the rust off.' Ed said. Al stared at his brother.

'Okay.' Al agreed. Ed smirked. 'Alright let's try this.' Ed said prepping.

'Okay that's settled sort of.' Blue said. 'What about Toboe?' She asked. 'I'll carry him.' Tsume stated. The group stared. 'What? Got a problem with that?' Tsume growled. 'It's not like Porky could, nor the alchemists here, they don't have enough physical strength.' Tsume stated. 'And Kiba's gotta keep one hand on Cheza at all times. Plus I doubt she walk much farther either.' Tsume said hoisting Toboe piggyback, onto his back.

'So I suggest you give Cheza a piggy back ride, and let's move.' Tsume stated. Kiba gave a nod, as Blue and Hige coaxed Cheza onto his back.

'Any luck?' Kiba asked to the alchemists. 'A little not a lot, there's not enough material to transmute tons. But we've got one of Al's arms full.' Ed smiled proudly. Kiba gave a nod.

'Then let's keep going on.' Kiba said. The group nodded.

* * *

'Don't worry they're coming.' Envy said easily as Gluttony and Pride continued to play cat and mouse with each other.

'How long?' Wrath asked. Envy shrugged. 'They'll be here around nightfall or so, depending on how much distance they cover.' Envy guessed. Wrath gave a nod, as both Pride and Gluttony launched into mid air decidedly as finishing moves.

A split second later Wrath was putting his saber back, as both and Pride and Gluttony were rubbing their nose that regenerated almost as fast. 'I had him Wrath.' Pride growled. Wrath stood up straight and patted his jacket sleeve for dust.

'Sure you did kid.' Lust smirked, as she patted Gluttony on the head for giving her a decent amount of amusement.

'Next time why don't you try fighting your own battles Lust.' Pride smirked. Lust rolled her eyes and shrugged. 'Why fight, when I have Gluttony?' she shrugged. 'You're just jealous you don't have anyone to manipulate like I do.' Lust sneered back.

'Come at-'

'Save it.' Envy said suddenly. The Pride and Lust glared at Envy. 'Nighttime, Midnight more like it. That's when you'll be able to vent your anger.'

* * *

A/N: Oh boy, what a boring non-cliffy cliff hanger. I'm really not good at writing those, so sorry about that. I promise action in the next chapter. :) Also, sorry for the really late update... I meant to update sooner, but I ran into computer trouble, and you know that weird thing called life got int the way too. Anyway, I should being updating this next week, and hopefully at a more frequent pace. Oh and two songs I was listening too while writing this were 'Undiscosed Desires' by Muse and 'Feel good drag' by Aberlin. Very good songs in my opinion. Drop me a review so I know I didn't lose all my reviewers!~


	23. Chapter 23

'Well, we more or less made it.' Roy said as the night began to creep into the sky. The group nodded. 'Yeah, but we could've done better, if some people' Ed glared at Tsume. 'Didn't have to fight with everyone.' He finished. Tsume shrugged, and reclined back a small-pleased smirk on his lips. Toboe, in wolf form, curled up next to him.

The group had, unbelievable, found several cacti to drink from just as the sun was setting. It was true, that Toboe had just suffered from dehydration, and had mostly recovered. His tongue was still slightly swollen, but gradually it was going down. He was in wolf form, since that body seemed more able to handle fatigue and any other issues he might have. Everyone else, including Cheza seemed fine.

Tsume pushed the small wolf away, only to have Toboe snuggle closer.

'So are you planning to hunt tonight?' Roy asked Kiba. Kiba nodded, his arm loosely circling Cheza's chest. She was somehow tired looking tonight. 'I am, we'll need something for tomorrow.' Kiba replied. Roy nodded. 'If you wouldn't mind bringing something back for Ed and I, that would be appreciated.' Roy asked.

'No problem, we'll get enough food for everybody!' Hige said, salvia forming in the corner of his mouth as he thought about it, as he rubbed his hands together. Blue let out a laugh and Hige grinned wider.

'Colonel, I'm going to try and catch some sleep then.' Ed said with a wave. Roy nodded. 'Alright Edward.'

'Night shrimp.' Tsume quipped. Ed glared, but turned his back to Tsume and the fire and fell asleep.

Kiba got up carefully transferring Cheza's head to Blue's shoulder. He motion slightly, rolling his shoulders back as Tsume and Hige got up. Kiba rolled his head once and took off at a run, Tsume and Hige mimicking him as they leaped together and transformed disappearing into the darkness.

'Well, they could've at least said goodbye.' Al remarked.

* * *

'It's time.'

* * *

'Jeez, nothing bigger then a couple of bunnies.' Hige said after an hour of hunting. Tsume looked at him, his face full of distain. 'Did you just call them bunnies?' Tsume asked.

'So what-'

'We're not bunnies, wolves.' Came a dark voice. Kiba whipped around snapping into wolf form. Wrath met his teeth, with his saber, and easily flung Kiba back. Twisting mid air Kiba landed lightly on his feet. Tsume and Hige covered their mouths.

'They still smell like sewer.' Tsume remarked. Hige coughed. 'God, they smell horrible.' Hige remarked. Kiba snarled and went after Wrath, only to trapped by blackness. He transformed back to human form, only to find himself still trapped.

A small boy appeared from behind Wrath, a pleasant smile on his face. 'Nice to meet you too-' His smile turned malignant. 'Kiba.' Kiba's face contorted wildly as he shifted back to wolf form, snapping at the boy. The grip on the joints tightened in an instant, and Kiba couldn't help but yelp at the sudden pain. Pride's smile widened.

Tsume growled slightly in the back of his throat.

Obviously both of them were a threat, the little boy more then the old man. He couldn't tell what exactly had Kiba bound, but knew the little kid controlled it. Yet he wasn't about to underestimate the old man either. Both of them smelled the same as the sewer, which perplexed him. The two of them didn't seem like sewer dwellers, considering how prominent in society Mustache or whatever had made them seem.

He growled again in frustration, and decided. Every man for himself, and he was betting on porky. Great.

Tsume sighed and leapt forward for the old man's saber hand. Unlike most, he seemed fairly prepared for a fight and handled it well, a bit too well. After several attacks Tsume had a gash on his muzzle across one nostril, several small shortened hair sections on his fore legs, and a large gash on his belly. He gave a small glance over to where Hige was, and all the bunnies were gone.

* * *

'Guys we've got a problem!' Hige shouted, tripping over his feet as he cradled the rabbits. Instantly everyone was on their feet, in suspense. Hige made it to the circle and dropped the rabbits.

'A little boy, and a guy wearing that-' He pointed at Roy's uniform, ' appeared where we were hunting. Kiba was frozen, and Tsume went after the old guy.' Hige panted.'Did you just say little boy?' Ed asked. Hige nodded, choking out a response. 'Pride.' Al nodded to his brother.

'And an older gentlemen wearing a uniform similar to my own?' Roy asked. Hige nodded, as he covered his mouth. 'Wrath.' Ed stated.'Furher Bradley.' Roy said in the same instant.

'We've got to go.' Ed said gathering up their meager provisions. Blue looked about helplessly. 'What about Tsume and Kiba?' She asked. 'They're the two strongest, they'll either tail us or they won't.' Ed said tossing the rabbits as Toboe, and Blue. 'Eat while you can, if not just leave them.' Ed continued. Blue and Toboe looked at each other, then transformed and ate the rabbits, Hige joining them.

'What should we do with Cheza?' Roy asked, noting that the plant girl had yet to say or do anything. Blue looked at her.

'Get her some water. Then I'll piggyback her. We'll need to run.' Blue said. Al offered his arm to the plant. Delicately she took it and drank a little, before giving it back. Al gave it to Roy and his brother, they to drank. Hige and Blue refused any, and Toboe was left to finish it off.

'Alright, everyone ready to go?' Hige asked. Toboe nodded in wolf form. 'Ready to go as always.' Roy replied.

'Which way Cheza?' Blue asked. Cheza merely pointed forward. And with that everyone took off in a sprint.

* * *

'So…' Pride murmured. 'What shall we do with you two?' Pride asked. Both Kiba and Tsume were now trapped by Pride's shadows. Tsume and Kiba said nothing. Pride sighed.

'Oh come now, I know you can talk.' He told them. The two wolves glared, and continued their silence. Pride frowned.

'This is boring when you don't. talk. _Back_.' He said, as the shadows wrapped around the wolves' forelegs crushing them slightly. Tsume let out a growl of anger, and Pride smiled.

'That's a start.' Pride replied.

'You'd best not do anything more, otherwise they might die on you.' Wrath said, suddenly reappearing, Envy at his side. Pride frowned. 'Maybe that's why all my beloved pets die.' Pride said. 'Or maybe they were just all suicidal.' Envy sneered, snickering. Pride frowned.

'I don't need your help, I can get them there myself.' Pride snapped. Envy shrugged. 'Yeah, sure you can kid.' Envy said ruffling his hair. 'But that's not going to work if you break their bones.' He replied.

'What do you mean get there?' Kiba asked, panting in human form. The three homunculus stared at him, slightly awed if not surprised.

'Come again?' Wrath asked.

'What do you mean moving us? Where is 'there'?' Tsume panted in agreement, his fore arms thoroughly cut up, and his leather jacket shredded to pieces revealing a deep bleeding cut in his abdomen. Envy smiled at the other two homculus.

'You mean you don't know?' Envy asked, coming closer. He went in between the two and held their chins mockingly. 'We're here to take you to paradise.' Envy smiled, as he met Kiba's eyes, with his new blue eyes, and brown hair.

* * *

'How much farther?' Ed panted, as he desperately sprinted forward. Blue looked up at Cheza. 'This one knows it is close, not far.' Cheza replied. Ed groaned, as he gripped his hair at a length.

'Does she ever refer to herself like a normal person?' He shouted, frustrated. Hige nodded no in his wolf form.

'She-' Blue picked up her pace. 'Has never-' She dodged a large rock with a high jump. 'Referred to herself as anything other then 'this one'.' Blue replied, back towards the alchemists. 'Does that answer you question?' she asked. Ed's face drooped at her answer, a slight twitch to his eye.

'Logically… yes.' Ed replied back. 'But otherwise NO!' HE hollered at the top of his lungs.

'Big Brother you need to be quite, you're giving our location away.' Al whispered. Roy nodded in agreement, as he kept his pace, his ears red.

'Who cares about our location that-' Ed stopped. Al looked at him quizzically. 'That what, brother?' Al asked. Ed looked downwards. 'I was going to say that stupid Tsume probably blew it already…'

* * *

'Where are they? It's been too long.' Lust whined, from on Sloth's shoulder. Gluttony danced about around Sloth's feet, sniveling. 'HUNGERY! HUNGREY! HUNGERY! TIME TO EAT! ENVY SAID IT WAS TIME TO EAT!' He whined loudly. Lust shot a disdainfully look at Gluttony.

'Shut up Gluttony, you'll eat when it's time.' Lust snapped, irritated, as she looked at Sloth.

'You really don't do much, do you?' she remarked aloud, but mostly to herself.

'HUNGREY! HUNGERY!' Gluttony shouted. She sighed.

'What's the matter Lust? Bored already?' Came a deep voice, slightly seductive in tone. She looked down, surprised to see the blue-eyed brunette wolf boy there. Easily she hopped down and admired his cold, calculating eyes, her hand holding his chin.

'My, my if you had told me they were this handsome I would've disposed of them myself.' Lust remarked. 'Very nice Envy.' She added. Kiba's face smirked, as it morphed into Tsume's. Lust stroked Tsume's scar. 'This one isn't that bad either.' She replied. Envy smiled widely.

'Why'd you even bother coming, if you didn't even help?' Pride snapped, as he manipulated Kiba and Tsume towards them. Envy turned and smirked.

'Because this is all part of the plan, Pride.' Envy sneered. 'You're just too pig headed to see my genius.' Envy added.

'HUNGERY! FOOD HERE! EAT! EAT! EAT!' Gluttony said launching himself at Kiba and Tsume, who were already on guard. They stared in amazement as Pride's saber, cut Gluttony into two. Sickeningly, Gluttony came back together and rubbed his jaw, a small tear in his eye.

'Lust' He sniffed. 'Pride killed me.' Lust rolled her eyes and punched him on top of the head.

'Only because you were going to ruin the plan, you idiot!' She snapped at him.

'Well, I'll just be going now.' Envy said once more becoming Kiba. 'I have to get the rest of the wolves to paradise.' He finished in Kiba's voice disappearing.

The homunculus looked at Wrath expectantly. 'What?' Pride asked.

'What is this plan anyway?' Lust demanded.

* * *

'This one know we are here.' Cheza stated. Instantly the group put on the brakes, and fell over each other, until they, lieterally, ended up in a wolf pile.

'Thanks for the warning.' Ed murmured from the bottom. They took care in untangling themselves from each other, as they looked around.

It was just desert, night desert. It didn't look different from where they had come from, or been. Nor did it feel any different then before. There was no power, or sudden field of flowers announcing to everyone that they were at paradise. It was just regular, dusty night time, to dawn looking desert.

'This is it?' Ed asked. Hige shrugged. 'I guess so, Cheza said it is.' Hige replied. Toboe nodded.

'And if Cheza told you paradise was at the bottom of the ocean would you jump in?' Ed quipped. Hige frowned. 'Sounds like something Tsume would say.' Hige replied back. Ed frowned. 'Don't even compare me to that jerk.' Ed snapped.

Suddenly the wolves noses collectively twitched, and they covered their mouths.

'Is everyone alright?' Came Kiba. They all stared at him. He had a couple of minor cuts, but was otherwise unharmed it seemed. Their hands dropped from their mouths.

'We're all a okay.' Toboe smiled. 'Cheza's just fine, Kiba.' Blue replied. 'She said paradise was right here.'

'Oh really?' Kiba replied, slightly surprised. 'That's great. How long have you been here?' He asked, looked them over.

'Not very long, Kiba. 'Al replied. 'We just got here a minute or two ago.'

'That's good.' Kiba replied. Blue sniffed. 'Kiba, I'm sorry but you smell absolutely awful.' Blue replied, covering her mouth again. Kiba smiled. 'It's because of Envy, I fought him a bit, and his scent overpowers mine. I can barely stand the smell myself.'

'Gosh Kiba, even after not having bathes for a week or two, even I don't smell that bad. ' Toboe laughed. Kiba laughed with him. And collectively the group became slient.

Kiba stopped laughing and frowned. 'What's the matter, guys?' He asked.

'Kiba, in all the time I've known him has never once laughed.' Hige replied, his hand twitching. Kiba's eyes became shocked. Blue went to Cheza's side, as did Toboe. The alchemists and Hige stood before Kiba.

'Because you aren't Kiba.' Ed said, flatly as he stared the Kiba imposture down. The Kiba imposture did nothing.

'Right. Envy?' Ed asked clipped. A sinister smile came to Kiba's face, as the transformation disappeared, revealing Envy.

'Right Edward.' Envy replied with a chuckle. 'And if you want to see Kiba-' He transformed into him again. 'Or-' In Kiba's voice, as he transformed into Tsume. 'Or Tsume again, you'll just quietly come with me.' He said in Tsume's voice. 'All of you, especially that pink hair girl you're all protecting.' He finished the three voices he used merging, while still remaining distincitive.

'I don't believe that's nessicary anymore though.' Came Pride. 'Since someone.' He glared at Envy. 'Miscalculated where, it should happen.' He snapped, as he threw Kiba and Tsume at the group. With a hit to Al, both guys were caught.

Envy smiled. 'Fine, it's more fun for me like this.' He replied.

'What do you want?' Kiba snapped wildly in a yell. 'We've done nothing wrong! Why do you pursue us?' He shouted.

The homunculus, aside from the disinterested Sloth looked amougest each other and shrugged. 'We just want, what father wants.' Wrath replied monotone. 'Which is appearently something only you wolves and your flower can make.' He pointed.

'Make? We never made anything!' Blue shouted. 'We just ended up here and got chased around!' Hige added, backing her up. Cheza came forward, and Kiba put his arm protectively around her.

Lust rolled her eyes. 'Do you think we're stupid?' She asked. 'Some of us here, perhaps are, but I'm not. Now make that thing happen again.' She demanded. 'Or maybe you just want to spend entirety in Gluttony's stomach?' She threatened, as Gluttony danced behind her clapping his hands. Chanting; 'Eat! Eat!' Eat!'

'What don't know what you're talking about!' Kiba shouted. 'We're just trying to get back!'

'Get back where? To where that prince is from? Fat chance!' Pride snapped. Wrath came forward his hands up motioning for silence on both sides.

'Father meantioned that they might still have amnesia.' Wrath stated, for both sides to coil slightly with contorted faces.

'So what are you saying Wrath? We have to wait until it dawns on them?' Envy glared, his arms crossed. Wrath shook his head and chuckled. 'No, no, no, to get them to remember, we merely have to recreate the experience or one similar to, what caused them to lose it.'* Wrath said easily. 'Pride, if you would?' Wrath gestured. Pride frowned but pushed his shadows further, only for them to shrink back as a sudden flame burst forth, pushing them back.

Wrath turned to see Colonel Mustang prepared to make more flames. 'Colonel Mustang, if you do that again, I will have to file an insuborination report.' Bradley said, pleasantly.

'I refuse to back down, sir.' Mustang said calmly. Bradley tsked him, and sighed. 'And I was going to premote you after this, you too Edward and Alphonse.' He continued, in the same out of place pleasant way.

'But oh well, Envy have at them.' Wrath dismissed, 'Pride, do get all the wolves and flower.'

Envy smiled and bolted forward. Rapaidly, Roy sent another burst of flame forward, as Ed transformed hisarma dn Al began a pentigram.

Ed came forward and met Envy with his blade, as the two exchanged blows in close range. A knee slam to a gut here, hair sliced off there, puches, kicks, shoved, and smashes everywhere else, pretty evenly dipursed. Only Envy didn't seem to acknowledge most of the blows, yet Ed did.

'Big Brother!' Al hollered, as Roy sent one last burst of flame. 'Al!' Ed replied doing a back ahnd spring away.

'Running will- What?' Envy screeched, as he was caught in a pentagram seal, strengthened as Ed added his alchemy as well.

'Why aren't they caught!' Pride roared, as he found he could no longer trap the wolves or Cheza. Sloth was being directed by Wrath after how to go about getting them, but easily the wolves dodged him, pracing about.

Lust was holding a salivating Gluttony back. 'EAT! EAT! EAT!' He shouted. 'No, Gluttony! Not now! Stop it you idiot!' Lust demanding, digging her nails into his body. Even then he wasn't deterred.

'I don't understand why this isn't working…?' Wrath murmered. 'All the elements are here, wolves, the pink haired girl, pentagrams of alchemy, power sources, it should be recreationing the same situation that happened before….' He murmered to himself, unaware that Sloth had now stopped.

Suddenly all the wolves froze, and their eyes glazed over. It was coming back to them now.

* * *

*: Don't do that at home kiddies, that's not the way to cure amesia.

A/N: After eight pages in Miscrosoft word... I present you this. Anway, terribly sorry for the cliffy, but I'm evil like that so, yeah. Hopefully this was action packed enough, probably not, but oh well. Next chapter I hope you'll find interesting, since we're getting down to the wire on this story. Drop a review if you would be so kind~


	24. Chapter 24

It was cold; extremely cold. The landscape was desolate, if you could even call it a landscape. There was nothing to indicate it so, since there was nothing but miles and miles of snow occupying the ground as far as the eye could see.

Toboe was nowhere to be seen. Blue and Hige were huddled up on the mountain that was in the foreground. Hige was desperately trying to keep Blue warm, but something in their minds clicked, and he stopped. They merely snuggled closer to each other and the wall. Tsume was still trudging up the mountain. His paws were bloody from the ice that got caught in his paw pads, and in turn the made sores that opened and bleed. Even he finally succumbed to the snow, and fell.

Kiba was at the top of the mountain staring at the half man, half wolf called Darcia. He was mad; Cheza couldn't save his darling wife. So he was forcing his body to revert back to wolf form, in order to go to paradise; since that is where his wife was waiting for him. It shocked Kiba, and disturbed him. But he was running out of time, Cheza's feet were already rooted, literally, into the ground, and slowly the veins inn her body were changing to veins of a plant. Her breath was strained, and she was wheezing out his name.

Darcia completed his transformation. He was a big black wolf now, with one blue eye and one gold one. The blue was wavering. Kiba transformed, as Darica started for him. After all in the end, only one wolf could make it to paradise.

It was a hard fought battled, which Kiba eventually won. He was human again. He turned to Cheza.

Cheza was no more. There was a tree, and a projection; it showed scenes of the future. Hige was eating. Tsume was in a motorcycle waiting in traffic. Toboe was wearing a silly looking hat. All of them looked happy.

_'Let's meet again in the next life.'_ The promise whispered into Kiba's ear as each voice had said it.

Then it changed.

The projection wavered uneasily like an old TV in a storm. Shots of what looked to be electricity went through it. The scene came back, Kiba took a step forward. The scene disappeared, Kiba took a step back. It changed, and the projection from the tree was no longer from a tree. It was a massive set of doors, showing a depressing dessert landscape.

'Well this isn't an even exchange.'

Kiba took several steps back in horror.

That t couldn't be… It wasn't… Was it paradise? Was that desert truly paradise? The land he had fought so hard, traveled so far to reach, and that was all it was, a desert?

No. The elders had told him that it was different. It was beautiful. Any and all wolves that made the trek could make it there. That was not paradise.

'Too bad.'

And suddenly a force, similar to a pull dragged him unwillingly forward. He strained against it desperately. IT pulled harder. Tsume, Hige, Blue, and Toboe were pulled into the doors, and as they passed it was clear they were alive and well. Kiba watched, awed.

It was that moment of awe that caused his legs to be swept from under him, and into the doors. He looked back, to see many eyes and many mouths looking at him and laughing their bodies shrouded in darkness.

'Poor boy'

'Poor wolfie.'

He grabbed for them. They laughed, and he was dropped from the sky into the desert.

* * *

The wolves all blinked. How was that possible? Were they all, aside from Kiba, truly dead in their own world? Had they all just shared the same vision? The looks from one to another confirmed the latter. It had been far to vivid to be just a dream or hallucination. Or was it? The scene had left them with more questions then answers, and nothing was adding up to anything aside from more confusion.

How was Cheza there then? They all knew she had become a tree that should have allowed Kiba to paradise. Yet, in the vision she was not accounted for. Then again, there she was, still doe eyed as ever, the only compass they relied on. She had led them all back here hadn't she?

'What did you see?' Roy grimaced, as he clutched his shoulder. Kiba blinked. 'That's…' He stopped, his mouth closing up as he thought about it further.

'Toboe! What did you see?' Al pleaded. Toboe stood stock still, silent tears streaming down his face. 'I was…' He too stopped and closed his mouth.

'Sloth capture the wolves and you may rest.' Wrath instructed. Sloth stood up and grunted, as his hands went for the wolves again. They all dodged lazily as if another worldly force was acting upon their bodies.

'Blue, Hige what did you see!' Ed shouted as he continued his pentagram. The couple said nothing, their hands intertwined with one another, standing still and looking up. A single tear ran down on cheek, from each of them.

Ed looked around wildly. Lust was still keeping Gluttony back. For now. Envy was caught in the pentagram, again for now. Pride was sulking, stomping his feet as he moved to where Wrath was directing Sloth from. Sloth was still half-heartedly chasing after the wolves, who continued to dodge just enough not to get caught. Where was Cheza?

Ed looked over, and saw her.

Her arms were parallel to her shoulders, her feet invisibly bound together. Her pink red eyes were glazed over, like the wolves' eyes had been. He looked at her feet more carefully. They were pulsing as the roots took hold and her feet changed. That last part Ed rationalized; probably wasn't a good sign.

'Tsume! Say something! Anything!' Ed shouted as loudly as her could. Desperate times come for desperate measures. The scarred wolf said nothing; then again he wasn't crying either.

'What's wrong with them?' Ed snarled at himself, another wave of alchemy coming from him. 'Maybe they had a vision.' Al reasoned. 'Doesn't mean they all have to freeze.' Ed murmured.

'The only way you can save them is to go to them… Ed.' Envy prodded. Ed's face twitched in anger. Envy smirked. 'Come on, you know it's true. Ever since they blinked you've been wildly trying to figure out how you can go help them, but you can't because you're preoccupied with keeping me bound here.' Envy smiled deviously. The alchemists' faces contorted.

'And don't say that you didn't, I know more about you then you think.' Envy added.

'Edward.' Roy murmured lowly, as Sloth crashed into an outcrop. Ed made brief eye contact.

'When I put my hands down, go to Kiba and try to rouse him from whatever it is that is clouding his mind. I should be able to fend off Envy for a short while.' Roy stated. 'How long?' Ed asked careful not to move his lips too much. Roy gave a nod. 'Two minutes maybe three.' Roy stated. Ed nodded again.

'1…'

'2…'

'Go…' Roy whispered as he focused his alchemic powers on the pentagram. Ed made a break for it, as Envy snapped in frustration.

As fast as his nimble body would go, Ed pounded down to Kiba. He hadn't had much time to think and he was thinking on the fly. When he was close he made a flying kick. Just as he was about to connect, Kiba blinked again the glaze clearing and he ducked.

'Kiba…'

'Not now.' Kiba clipped, as he tore for Hige and Blue. He grabbed them, and they too were lifted from the fog in their eyes. He did the same to Tsume and Toboe. Just as Sloth gave a guttural growl of frustration, and decided to step it up.

The wolves tore towards Cheza, Kiba being the closest when a light; a blue light engulfed them all. Everyone froze in their spots. The wolves all clumped together, Cheza's face succumbing into a tree. Envy, still trapped stared in awe, Wrath with his one eye stared, Pride watched wide eyed as a true child, Sloth from his chase paused mid step, Roy and Al still hands on the pentagram, watched, Lust stared and Gluttony stopped struggling and drooled as he looked.

'To paradise.' Kiba managed to get out. A collective agreement rippled through the wolves, as they proceeded forward. The doors replaced the projection again. This time, they showed the winter landscape, Darcia defeated, and their bodies missing from it.

'Fun is over.'

'Idea not allowed.'

'The exchange must be made.'

'It must equal out.'

Together, the wolves stepped through the doors, no pull needed. And the doors' shut, and disappeared the tree that was Cheza long since vanished.

The Holcumulous and Alchemists could only stare, as they all felt their bodies grow heavy.

'So this…' Wrath managed to cough out. 'Was what he…'

And in all their eyes, it all went black.

* * *

A/N: This is NOT the final chapter. Although it's really kinda short, no pun intended, I hope this was climatic enough for everyone. I wanted to make sure I posted again before I left for the weekend. (I'm headed up north to cheer my cousin on in water polo.) There is still one more chapter to go! And it will be posted sometime next week. So drop a review and stay tuned; I still have a couple tricks up my sleeve. ;)


	25. Chapter 25

It was like the image had shown. He was in the city, the soot filled air, the various scents of people, Kiba knew it well. It had been where his journey had picked up. Where he had found Cheza, and Hige, on accident of course. Then again he couldn't complain about Hige helping him out of there. Somehow Tsume and Toboe had joined them as well. It had actually made the rest of the trip okay, even enjoyable. Not that it wasn't enjoyable before, just with… with…

Could he call them friends? Dare he call them friends?

The whole thought made him tense. He had never had 'friends' before, a pack was a pack and that was all. He never stuck around long enough to make solid relationships with people, or wolves at all. Until that town, this town he had mostly been alone. Still, they had stuck around. Even when they had thought he was nuts, or wrong they had followed him and stuck with him until the end.

Which made him wonder if Blue was in town, or, like the past, she was in a different town with the drunkard. Maybe this time she knew she was a wolf through and through and wasn't. He hadn't thought about it all that much. This world, paradise, could be extremely different then the past life or world. He wasn't sure what to call it. There were so many variables to this equation, and for once Kiba just didn't feel like solving it.

'Watch it, buddy.' A man grumbled as he continued on. Kiba went to the nearest alleyway and wandered until he came upon a small, underused park. There he sat, and thought.

So if this was paradise, and where he had come from was Amsteris, but he had been forced to Amsteris, and now he found himself here, in paradise. He could understand coming from his original world. That much he could comprehend, he had to come from somewhere, but why Amsteris? Why had they been forced there? Why couldn't he have just come from his old world? What had become….

* * *

Ed found himself in an infirmary back at Central. The bed next to his was gone, aside from a lone jacket he knew belonged to Colonel Mustang. He looked to his right, Al was awake, as always, looking at him. His little brother's eyes implored his older brother.

It took a second for Ed to realize why, and what was making his brother implore to him. He shook his head slowly, unable to find the words to explain otherwise. Al's head slumped slightly. Ed looked down at his hands, and clenched them into fists. Nothing broken, nothing was wrong. He could feel his human toes, and automail ones. He wasn't hooked up to an i.v. drip, or a heart lung, so there was no internal damage. It seemed as though their Colonel was already re-swamped with work, and up and about.

'Well, let's think about what we can remember…' Ed mumbled to himself. Al gave an agreeing nod.

They had escorted the wolves to the desert. Both of them found this to be accurate. Roy was with them, that too was true. Toboe had fainted, true. Tsume had carried him until they had miraculously found cacti, also true. Then Tsume, Kiba and… Hige had gone to hunt? Both of them strained themselves for details, and had agreed that it was most likely true. Hige had come back panicked, true. Tsume and Kiba hadn't returned with him, true. They had run to where Cheza said they should be, correct. Envy disguised as Kiba had appeared and talked with them, they also found this correct. They had fought with the Holocumus, and trapped Envy in a pentagram, when the wolves had froze. Ed had nearly kicked Kiba back, and then he suddenly awoke, followed by everyone else. A new pentagram had made Cheza, who had somehow become a tree; projection the 'future' of their paradise. There had been voices too, something about exchange, and then… It started to get fuzzy.

Ed remembered the wolves walking into the projection. Al remembered how everyone had been frozen in awe; he didn't remember where they had gone. They both agreed that shortly after the pentagram faded it went dark. And for the life of either of them, they couldn't remember exactly what had gone on.

'Dammit!' Ed swore suddenly his automail arm destroying the small nightstand near him. Al flinched slightly. 'Big Brother, it's okay, really it is.' HE started. Ed scoffed. 'We haven't heard anything from the Holocumus, so the wolves must be safe in their paradise.' Al reasoned.

'Then what about the plant girl … the moon flower, Cheza? What about her?' Ed snapped. Al frowned as much as his helmet would let him. 'I don't know, Ed and neither do you.' He stated curtly, bluntly. Ed stared hard at the floor. 'We have to assume she's okay too. Since we'll probably never find out what really happened.' Al continued. Ed bite his lip. 'I guess it's for the best.' He said.

'Guessing isn't good enough.' Came an all too familiar voice. Ed and Al turned, to see Colonel Mustang appear. They gave him a salute, and he returned it. Ed sighed. 'So how much of that did you heard?' He asked casually knowing nothing really got past Roy when he was serious. 'From the point where you talked about Cheza.' Roy said.

He cleared his throat. 'After thoroughly re-examining the surrounding area, there is no trace of her or the wolves, not even footsteps or paw prints.' Roy replied briskly. He twisted his head, to maintain a straight face. 'And upon further consulting other witnesses, none of the wolves are in Amstersis.' He said, once he finished, his forced smile returning to normal.

'President Bradley?' Ed guessed, as to this other witness. Roy coughed once. 'Envy.' He replied, his responses slightly choked off. Ed nodded. Envy must've given Roy a hard as hell time with his side of the story.

'So they're not in Amstersis anymore?' Al asked. 'That is affirmative.' Roy replied, taking his coat once more, and tugging it on easily. He gave an oddly gentle nod to the boys. 'I'm sure they're fine.'

* * *

'So we were…' A leather clad gangster type started, '-Traveling companions in a past life, is that what bullshit you're trying to sell us?' He asked, a bow cocked, his eyes glaring. The semi-circle Kiba had managed to gather of the look alikes of Tsume, Hige, and Toboe, all shared a look. Kiba merely nodded.

It had been weird talking with them again, and realizing they had no idea who he was. They were strangers in his world, to him and each other, Tsume, or who he thought was Tsume had voiced that clearly when he had approached him. He actually convinced them like a salesmen to come with him and listen. Hesitantly, they had agreed and listened. Now was the hard part, did they believe him?

'Yes.' Kiba said flatly. The other looked at each other again; Hige and Toboe squinting like it would jog their memory or something. The Tsume look alike wasn't having it.

'That is the biggest fucking joke I've ever had-' 'Wait.' The Toboe look alike said, putting a hand up in silence. The Tsume look alike snarled but closed his mouth. 'And why should I pup?' He snapped. Toboe gave him a small smile. 'He didn't say why he was telling us this.' He replied.

The leather clad look a like reclined. 'So you crazy sociopath, why are you telling us this?' He snarled, clearly pissed off at being forced to sit and listen. Hige and Toboe looked at him too in wonder. Kiba cleared his throat.

'Because we promised.' He replied quietly. 'Promised what?' Asked the Hige look alike curiously. Kiba cleared his throat again.

'We agreed to meet again in the next life, or paradise.' Kiba explained.

'Let's meet again.' Toboe said, his eyes distant. The two other skeptics looked at him, shocked slightly. Toboe's eyes returned to brown, and a smile graced his face. 'That sounds right, so I believe you Kiba.' He said offering his bangled arm to Kiba. 'I'm Toboe.' He said. Kiba shook his hand, an awkward smile coming to his face. 'Kiba.' He replied.

Maybe he wasn't delusional.

The Hige look alike got up and yawned. 'Ya' know something inside of me is saying your right too. So I believe you. I'm Hige.' Hige said offering his hand. Kiba shook it as well.

The Tsume look a like scowled. 'I don't know why the hell I'd travel with a pack of the likes of you, but even I'll admit this feels right. I still think you're crazy pretty boy, but I believe you. I'm Tsume.' Tsume replied.

'So what do you guys say we hit a diner or something to bond? I'm starving.' Hige suggested. 'Sounds great!' Toboe agreed. Kiba gave a nod and got up following them, and talking slightly.

'Did you know you had a girl in the past? Her name was Blue.' Kiba said easily, dropping the fact Hige had ignored into conversation. Hige stared at him in shock. While the front trio started to head down the block, when Hige shook his head and chased after them. 'Was she hot? Tell me what she was like!'

* * *

'So what after the report?' Ed asked several weeks later after compiling all the facts, and putting it on Roy's desk. Roy took the swollen file and flipped through it. Initial sighting, detailed descriptions of each person in question, more reports, and he closed it. He put it as gently as he could back on the table; it still gave off an audible thud. He intertwined his fingers together. 'What about it?' He asked finally.

Ed and Al looked at each other. 'What are you going to do with it?' 'What's going to happen to it?' They asked. Roy reclined in his chair. 'Same thing that happens to all reports, I'll examine it and file it away.' He replied easily.

'That's it?' Ed asked. Roy nodded. 'That's it.' The two boys looked at each other. 'So what do you want us to do now?' Al asked. Roy gave a small smirk.

'What were they?' Roy asked. Ed gulped, and Al shrugged. 'We never found out sir, they just called themselves wolves.' Ed replied. Roy gave a nod. 'So the person who filed a claim that their were chimeras in the next yard over was just delusional or lying?' Roy asked. They stared at him. What?

'So it was just a joke, right? There were no chimeras?' Roy asked the two again. Ed gave a bit of a laugh and smiled. 'Yes, sir.' He replied. Roy gave another nod. 'Then that is all.' Roy replied.

* * *

'So they're really gone?' Asked Winry. The whole group gathered, Ed, Al, Winry, Grandma Pinco, Roy, Greed, La Fan, Old man Fuu, Riza, Breda, Cain, Havoc, gave a collected sigh of relief as Ed confirmed it once more. 'Yup they're gone from Amsteris.' Al said cheerful.

'That's a relief, being chased around couldn't have been too much fun.' Winry grinned passing out more steaming hot coco, seeing how everyone was gathered in their home. Riza nodded. 'And seeing this means a lot less military patrolling, and paperwork.' She added, as the group collectively laughed.

'It was fun while it lasted.' Roy replied, trying to look like the grown up. Breda and Cain laughed.

'What do you think they're doing right now?' Winry asked, as she peered outside through the window. The night was coming fast and the moon was full once again. The group quieted.

'I imagine they're happy in their wolf heaven.' Ed said, with a scoff. Al rolled his eyes at his brother. 'I bet they're together, happy in their new found paradise.' Al replied. 'Agreed.' Roy said, as the group held a toast to the wolves. May they be happy in paradise.

* * *

AN: And this my friends, is the conclusion to 'How did this Occur?'. I hope it's satsifactory. Orginally it ended with Roy and Bradley talking about the report, but that seemed to heavy to be the real ending, so I re-did it. Sorry for such a long wait! School interferred, yadda, yadda, etc. Leave your final comments with this chapter, I'd really appreciate it if it was detailed. You liked how I did this, this was wrong here, etc.~ I want to improve, and see how much of an impact this had!


End file.
